The Fine Line
by Sachiel Yukio
Summary: [SeiyaYaten] Usagi is kidnapped right under Seiya's nose, the Starlights and Inners set out to find her. Yaten's feelings towards Seiya develop beyond friendship, but what is she supposed to do about Seiya's obvious devotion to a certain moon princess?
1. Taken

_I don't own Sailor Moon or its characters, etc. etc. _

_I haven't written anything in eons (much less fanfiction) so please excuse any crappy sentence structure and/or absence of writing ability. There is a sorry lack of Seiya/Yaten fanfiction on the net and I want there to be more! I love them together, and this fic is me trying to get the creativity flowing and rationalize their relationship in my mind. - Please R/R, Thanks!_

CHAPTER 1

-

TAKEN

In an instant, Seiya was gone.

There was a moment of silence as the two remaining boys watched the corner to see if their friend would reappear. Lazy snowflakes drifted down all around them, and the dull rumble of automobiles on the street set a peaceful backdrop for so many people out shopping for last minute holiday gifts.

"He's not coming back." The taller of the two finally spoke when he felt the silence had dragged on long enough. Watching his friend's face, he gestured in the opposite direction, off towards the festive holiday lights and bright shop windows. The moon was dim, hidden behind a thick layer of clouds, its glow was pale compared with the thousands of tiny lights strung throughout the trees lining the side of the road and decorating nearly every storefront.

When his friend continued to stare at the street corner, he cleared his throat, "Yaten, you know-"

"Is he ever going to stop with this?" Yaten sighed, still watched by Taiki, and conceded to walk back towards the city filled with lights.

"You know our princess would have wanted us to look after her-" Taiki's defense sounded weak even to him, and he gave up even trying to push further argument. Particularly when he noticed that once again the shorter boy was carrying on this conversation mostly with himself.

"Of course." He tucked his hands into the pockets of his tailored black winter coat, and sidestepped a patch of ice on the sidewalk. With his bad circulation, there was hardly any point at all in wearing winter gloves. They just seemed to seperate his fingers and make them colder. They were rather fashionable though. "I don't mind keeping an eye on her, but Seiya..."

Taiki shook his head gently, "I know." Nothing more really needed to be said. They both knew that Seiya's interest in Usagi was more than a passing respect for their departed princess's wishes. His disappearances seemed to be more and more frequent, and he had finally stopped making excuses to his two closest friends. Or maybe they had just stopped asking.

After walking a city block in silence, Taiki watching the lights in the trees and Yaten mostly just observing his feet with as much concentration as possible, Taiki broke the silence. "Home?"

Yaten didn't look up, and a noncommittal, 'yeah' was his only response.

Feeling far more tired than he had a few minutes ago, Taiki set them on the path for home.

- -

The digital clock glared an angry red 3:12 at Yaten. His eyes barely poking out from beneath the voluminous black feather comforter. Somewhere in his still sleep-fogged mind he wondered why he was awake, while another part of his brain tried to convince him that he wasn't and that if he just shut his eyes again he would fall right back into his dream and wouldn't even remember waking up in the middle of the night. But there it was again- the noise that must have woken him in the first place. He heaved himself further from sleep and set his brain into motion. Slow motion, but still better than nothing. Someone was in the entranceway. _Who the...?_ Finally coming awake enough to have some thought return to him, he settled himself further under the comforter, wishing he'd resisted his curiousity and gone back into his deep sleep when he'd had the chance. He shifted, admiring the perfect temperature that he had achieved under the covers. It was so inviting to just fall back asleep. Particularly since he was now awake enough to realize that the noise was most likely Seiya returning home.

_Why even bother, really._

3:13. It sounded as though something heavy had been dropped by the door. Yaten glared at the clock while his laziness battled with his curiousity for what odd sight might greet him in the hallway. Finally his curiousity won out, and with every intention of grouching at Seiya for waking him up, he slipped out from beneath the warmth of the comforter and padded quietly to the door. _How come he acts as though he's somehow above the rules? It's like he expects to be held to a different standard than everyone else- and now he's off wasting time with that girl rather than spending it with us, his friends. You know that once her boyfriend returns, Seiya's just going to be brushed aside and we're going to have to put him together again._

A light was on in the hallway, shining through the cracks around Yaten's door, and he cautiously slid the door open a fraction.

"Seiya!" It was Taiki's voice that had shouted, more paniced than anything else. Startled by the sudden outburst, Yaten hit his foot on one of the legs of a small table by the door. He winced and supressed an annoyed curse. Something flashed across his vision as Taiki hurried down the hallway past Yaten's door. Giving up all pretense of sneaking up on the scene, Yaten slid the door open the rest of the way and stared down the hallway to the front door. The sight that greeted him wasn't the one he had expected.

Seiya lay partially curled up on the floor by the door, his smooth black hair unbound, splayed over his shoulders as Taiki knelt over him and made a move to turn him over and puzzle out what had happened.

"Seiya!" It was instictive. As Yaten covered the few metres to Seiya, he heard his own voice, sounding frantic, asking what had happened. Falling to his knees on the other side of his collapsed friend, he watched as Taiki gently lifted Seiya into his lap. He was still breathing but his eyes were no more than slits. Even keeping them open that much looked to be a struggle. Taiki seeemed to be checking Seiya over for any injuries.

What happened? Hadn't Seiya been out with Usagi doing... whatever it was that they did together-? Why was Seiya back like this- and if Seiya was back-

"Usagi?" Yaten blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. This seemed to bring a little more light to Seiya's face, and Yaten was inwardly disgusted at the situation. He hoped it didn't show.

It took the other light a moment to get the words out, "They took her."

- -

Under the circumstances it didn't seem particularly appropriate to be sitting around in the kitchen sipping on tea. However, it appeared to be the only thing that they could do. Taiki had volunteered to alert Usagi's friends- and rather than running out the front door had vanished into his room, only to reappear moments later. He gave a quick, muttered, explanation about the marvels of modern technology and the many uses of the internet before setting a pot of tea to boil. Yaten was watching Seiya with unveiled concern. Seiya had obstinantly refused to lie down or rest at all (and had in fact made an attempt to rise and go back out the front door) and was now sitting at the kitchen table with his two comrades, a particularly ugly crocheted yellow blanket wrapped around him.

Yaten and Taiki watched Seiya quietly as the third light stared into the depths of his tea mug without looking like he really knew it was there. After a very long minute passed this way, Yaten spoke, an edge of irritation coming into his voice, "So? Are you going to leave us sitting here or are you going to tell us what happened?"

The horrible kitchen light buzzed as the silence began again. A bit of mud or caked blood was still clinging to bits of Seiya's hair, making him look more bedraggled than Yaten could recall seeing him since the fight with Galaxia. _What the hell, Seiya? I'm going to shake some sort of explanation out of you if you don't volunteer one soon, this whole stoic quiet brooding thing is getting stupid... what HAPPENED?_

Finally, the dark head lifted a little, and Seiya met Yaten's eyes. "When I arrived at Odango's house she was frantic." It sounded as though every word was strained and exhausted, but he managed a slight smile, "You know how she is though, I didn't think it was anything unusual. She couldn't find Luna, so naturally I volunteered to help her search for her."

At this point, Seiya once again returned his blue-eyed stare to the mug of tea. "We couldn't find her anywhere- she called Minako and even Artemis didn't know where she'd gone to."

Another exhausted breath, then Seiya continued, "It... isn't unusual for Luna to go to the park. You know, to be alone sometimes. So we went there." This time he looked up into Taiki's eyes, "It's like they were waiting for us. As soon as we were outside, it felt like something was watching us."

Yaten couldn't help himself, "You know who it was?"

Seiya paused, and if the situation hadn't been so serious, Yaten would have accused Seiya of trying to fit as many dramatic pauses as humanly possible into one conversation.

"No. We arrived at the park, Luna wasn't there- Usagi screamed, and then I was hit." He lifted his hand to gently touch the side of his head. A fleeting look of disappointment crossed Taiki's face, he had clearly been hoping for more information than that. Yaten couldn't help but second the feeling.

"When I finally came around she was gone and I felt as though I'd had all of the energy just sucked out of me. It was all I could do to get back here." The exhaustion was still evident in his voice, and it was clear that he wasn't going to be staying awake much longer.

The silence that followed this was short-lived as the musical chime of the doorbell announced their visitors. Seiya looked as though he was tottering on the edge of consciousness, his eyes half-closed and shoulders slouched. "It's them." Taiki announced unnessicarily as he rose from his chair to answer the door.

"You tell them what happened, I don't think Seiya's going to be making a second run through of that story tonight." Taiki glanced at the drooping Seiya, nodded, and walked back towards the entryway.

With a sigh, Yaten crouched beside his dark-haired companion, slid his arm around his waist and looped the other light's arm over his shoulders and gingerly stood. There was an awkward moment as Seiya tried to resist Yaten's help, bumped against the kitchen table and made the mug of tea wobble precariously for a moment and slosh a bit over the rim before he gave in and rested his weight on Yaten. He gave an exhausted grumble, and despite the situation Yaten smirked. Seiya was clearly beyond the point of exhaustion and was behaving like a surly old man.

Yaten distantly heard the barrage of questions as Taiki opened the front door and the four inner senshi demanded to know what was going on.

_Come on..._ Seiya's arm was snagged on Yaten's ponytail and pulled uncomfortably on it with every step, but he half dragged/half walked the other light in the direction of his bedroom regardless. He didn't want the already-panicked senshi to see Seiya like this- they would either flock and coo with concern or demand answers of him that he couldn't give in this state. Probably the latter. He had the impression that they were a bit more concerned for their own princess' disappearance than with Seiya's welfare.

Luckily, Seiya's bedroom was in the back of the house- he wouldn't have to go down the hallway and take Seiya in sight of the other senshi. Yaten spared a moment to feel sorry for Taiki, who sounded as though he was currently trying in vain to get the girls to shut up so he could explain what had happened.

Seiya was fully unconscious now, and far heavier than Yaten thought he had any right to be. How could someone so thin weigh so much? They were out of the kitchen now and into the darkened hall right before Seiya's room. Yaten heaved his companion along, across the threshold of the room and fumbled around for the lightswitch for a moment before remembering that Seiya's room didn't have one. Seiya mumbled something incoherent in his sleep and Yaten paused to glance down at him. The blood or mud or whatever it was was still caked to the side of his head._ Blood..._ Yaten decided, realizing that there were a few tiny spatters of it marking the side of Seiya's face, trailing along his cheekbone and under his eye, where long dark lashes brushed his cheek. Before he realized it his eyes had strayed lower, taking in the strong but delicate curve of his jaw swooping up to the soft earlobe and smooth neck with a few wisps of the purest black hair just barely resting against it- Yaten quickly averted his eyes, feeling his face grow warm.

He was suddenly very aware of every inch of his body that Seiya was pressed against. His arm, shoulder, the side of his chest, his hip. The body against him was warm- and very solid. The more he tried to think of something else, the more aware he became- the shift of Seiya's weight against him with every breath taken was fascinating and caused him to shake his head in frustration and resume the trek into the room. _Shit, I'm tired._ He pressed himself to think of something else, grasping on the first subject that came to mind.

_Taiki has to be going mad with irritation at those girls by now- not Ami of course. She's not nearly as troublesome as the rest. Dull though. A goldfish has more personalilty than that girl- nothing personal, of course._ He refrained from saying anything negative about the studious girl in front of Taiki. You didn't have to be an empath to tell that he had some unspoken feelings towards the girl.

Yaten pulled Seiya the remaining few steps to the bed and tried to set him down as gently as possible. _Shouldn't I have known that something had happened to Usagi or Luna... or at least Seiya?_ He picked up Seiya's legs and pushed them onto the bed after the rest of him, trying to keep himself from thinking too much about anything. It was warm in Seiya's room, Yaten wasn't sure what he was supposed to do in this situation- was he supposed to undress Seiya and clean him up? The thought horrified him for a moment- it was something he could see Taiki doing, but he wouldn't want anyone undressing him and cleaning him up when he was unconscious... Seiya would be fine as he was, Taiki had already checked him over for injuries, he was clearly just physically and mentally exhausted and needed to rest.

The distant buzz of conversation could be heard coming from the kitchen, growing fainter as the guests were presumably ushered into the living area. Yaten stood a moment longer in Seiya's room, caught feeling as though these would be the last few calm moments he would have before the real storm hit. Then he turned and walked from the room, closing the door behind him.

- -

By the time Yaten emerged into the living area Taiki had managed to seat everyone and set a pot of tea out on the table for them to help themselves. They had calmed down significantly from the herd of shouting that had made its way into their small house, and though they all still appeared to be pale and anxious, they were at least allowing Taiki to speak now. Yaten stepped quietly into the room, realizing as he did so that he was still wearing his silky black pajamas and everyone else save Taiki was fully, if hastily, dressed. Mako was wearing a shirt and skirt, which together constituted a fashion crime- and Yaten found himself wondering why this surprised him. Everyone glanced up at him as he stepped into the room, except Taiki, who appeared to be finishing up retelling what Seiya had told them only a few minutes ago. He took a seat to Taiki's left, ignoring the coy glance shot his direction from Minako, and reached for the pot of tea.

"So no, we don't know where she is. _Or_ who took her. _Or_ what they're planning to do-" Taiki reached up to adjust his glasses, a trace of irritation wrinkling his brow, "Really, we don't know much of anything."

Rei slammed both hands down on the table, "We've got to find out where she is!"

_No shit._ _Way to state the obvious there, Rei. _Yaten barely managed to restrain himself from rolling his eyes at her. He was sure that his face displayed a telltale sour and impassive expression. Taiki, patient as always, nodded his agreement.

"If Seiya can show me where it happened, I may be able to figure something out from there." Ami chimed in. No doubt she had plans to use some sort of strange technology which made sense only to her- and possibly Taiki.

"Seiya is unconscious right now." Yaten said abruptly, putting an end to any thoughts they may have had about bothering the injured starlight.

Rei and Minako exchanged a look, which said very clearly 'He's in one of those moods.'

Hardly caring what they thought about his attitude, Yaten poured himself a cup of tea as Makoto spoke up.

"You're an empath, couldn't you find the place that it happened?" Yaten paused mid sip and stared at her, just long enough for her to start feeling uncomfortable. How her reasoning made sense to her, he wasn't quite sure- some events left an impression on the area in which they occured. However, those events tended to be of the monumentally tragic variety not of the randomly-abducted-moon-princess variety. He supposed that Makoto's thinking must have run along these lines, that was the only way he could rationalize the suggestion anyway.

"No." He set the tea back down on the table and continued to watch it, "I didn't pick up any part of it while it was happening. I've always known in the past when something happens to Taiki or Seiya. There was nothing this time." He swallowed, _or Kakyuu_ he added mentally. _I've always known when something was wrong with any of them._ That just made it that much worse. He'd had the horrible feeling of being entirely in the dark about this whole thing.

There was a bit of noise at the far side of the table and Minako bent over and lifted Artemis into her lap. "Artemis knows where Luna visits in the park- we could start by looking there?"

"It's better than doing nothing." Rei nodded, a gesture mirrored by the other girls around the table.

"I had better go with you-" Taiki added, rising from his seat. "There's no time to waste, we don't know what might be happening elsewhere." The others rose with him, gathering their things. "Yaten," Taiki turned his eyes on the silver-haired light. "This shouldn't take long, but we can't leave Seiya alone here..."

Yaten gavea brusque nod. He wouldn't be much help in solving this bloody mystery anyway. As the group moved towards the door following a very somber Artemis, Yaten collected the various tea cups and brought them into the kitchen. It only took a moment for the senshi to find their shoes and jackets and hurry out the door.

Yaten massaged the back of his neck, he thought that situation would be worse. Running over the events in his mind he had expected Ami to start crying, Mako to break something, and Rei and Minako to scream about it until they were hoarse. When he looked at it that way, things seemed to have gone _well _even He stared out the kitchen window briefly, watching thick snowflakes drift down to rest on the sill.

Now there was nothing to do but wait. _I hate waiting._ He sighed and dimmed the kitchen lights before wandering in the direction of Seiya's room. Hopefully Taiki and... no, just Taiki, would be back soon with some information. The house was eerily quiet like this. With no one practicing or singing, no clicking of fingers on computer keyboard as Taiki researched another obscure subject.

Yaten pushed open the door to Seiya's bedroom. The only light came from a small star-shaped nightlight on the far wall by the bed and it took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the extremely dim light. Seiya appeared to be sleeping peacefully, still lying as he had been left. Yaten closed the door behind him and sat down on the floor beside his friend's bed. _Seiya..._ What was going to happen when he woke up and truly realized what had taken place?

_I really don't understand why you care for that girl._ He folded his arms on the matress and rested his head on them, watching the other light for a moment. Seiya's lips parted slightly and he began snoring quietly.

Yaten had to restrain himself from laughing outright, and managed more of a tired grin. _Classy, Seiya._ Sleeping half sitting and half leaning against Seiya's bed wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing, but he couldn't quite bring himself to sleep in his own bed and leave Seiya alone. Wouldn't that defeat the point of him staying behind to watch over him anyway? He was sure to wake up with a horrible neck cramp- that was if he managed to get to sleep at all. Seiya had stopped the quiet snoring and was now back to the heavy rhythmic breathing that indicated deep sleep.

A sleepy haze crawled into Yaten's mind as well, and he suffered a moment of almost-irritation that even with dirt and mud and whatever else spattered all over himself, Seiya managed to look extremely comfortable. Still smirking, Yaten closed his eyes. In a much-guarded corner of his mind he grudgingly admitted that even with the male forms they had adopted while on this planet, Seiya still managed to be beautiful.

-.-.-.-.-

Yay! I finished a chapter! Lots more to come, I know it's off to a slow start! Sorry! x.X


	2. Return

_**Notes:** I realize that I never said what time period this story takes place in. I suppose it's a little AU since it's supposed to take place after the battle with Galaxia, however Kakyuu was not reborn with the Starlights and as such, Kinmoku was not recreated. The Starlights opted to stay on earth with the inners and Usagi since they had nowhere else to go. That's just how the story came to be in my head, and now it seems a little too late to try and change it around to fit with the real ending of Stars- sorry!­_

CHAPTER 2

-

RETURN

Yaten's eyelids lifted slowly. He doubted that more than ten minutes had passed since he had laid his head down and shut his eyes. Sleep, even in this horrible position, had been wonderful. However, something had pulled him from that peaceful place, so he may as well see what it was.

He blinked lazily, waiting for his eyes to focus- there was a small amount of dawn light filtering in through the gauzy curtains draped over Seiya's window. _Okay, more than ten minutes I guess. More like a few hours._ And that probably explained why his neck was hurting so much. He cringed as he lifted it from his arms, which by now were numb and tingling as well. It was then that he realized what it was that had woken him.

A still completely disheveled Seiya was staring at him, an unexpected smile playing at the corners of his mouth. Yaten was taken aback and abruptly jerked back away from the bed where the amused starlight lay.

"You were snoring." Seiya informed him, his voice still weak, but nothing compared to what it had been a few hours earlier.

_What's going on? Seiya, you idiot- aren't you upset? Don't you remember what happened? Why you're like this? _Yaten was certain that his muddled thoughts were mirrored on his face in a shocked and idiotic expression of some sort, which probably explained why the smile remained on his dark-haired friend's face.

It took him half a second to regain his composure, "Don't be ridiculous. I don't snore."

Seiya raised his eyebrows, "Really? I would've thought you were a big hairy woodsman judging by _those_ snores." Seiya's tired expression held an element of playful expectation, as though he were clearly waiting for the other light's retort.

"That blow to the head must have seriously unhinged you. You're obviously delusional." The words had come spilling out of Yaten's mouth before he had a chance to think them through first. _Ah, shit._ He'd called Seiya crazy so many times before now, he didn't stop to think that his wording would call to mind the events of the night.

The almost-smile on Seiya's face faltered and he averted his eyes to the ridiculous yellow crocheted blanket that still covered him and now spilled onto his pillow along with random strands of black hair.

The light from the window had increased in the minute or two since Yaten had opened his eyes, it couldn't be long before true dawn hit. Where was Taiki? Had they found anything? Yaten shook his head, feeling like an idiot, distracted by his own tiredness he hadn't realized that Taiki hadn't yet returned. Or maybe he had and hadn't felt the need to come in and tell Yaten? No, that was stupid, Taiki would have woken him up. This was important.

Yaten rubbed at his arms through the thin pajamas, hoping to lose the uncomfortable tingling sensation that still prickled his skin. He rose to his feet, rather pleased that he managed to do it gracefully for all that he had been sleeping awkwardly on Seiya's floor for several hours in the same position.

Seiya's eyes were on him again, and the look of worry was gone from his face- or rather was hidden behind another smile, which looked false and somewhat ragged around the edges.

"Yaten," He felt more than saw Seiya's eyes meet his, and he forgot to breathe for a moment at the sound of his own name. The next sentence snapped him from his tired reverie. "We'll find her. Don't worry."

Yaten couldn't be sure what expression he wore now. He had no idea how to react to _that._ Torn somewhere between laughing and shouting, he paused, staring into the familiar face. That was rich. Seiya was telling him not to worry. About Usagi. Had he really looked that concerned? If he had, it certainly wasn't for Usagi's sake. _I was worried about _you_, dumbass. We'll hardly be the 'three lights' if one of us is out of commission. _And how was Seiya the one lying drained in a bed and Yaten was standing feeling fine aside from clear lack of sleep and a neck cramp and Seiya was reassuring _him_? The worst part of it was what his empathy told him. _Not if. He means when. There is no doubt about it in his mind. We are going to find her and everything will be alright. That's what he wants and that's how it's going to be. He won't even accept the possibility that we might already be too late..._

Not knowing what he could possibly say, he simply nodded. He hadn't taken a single step towards the hallway when he heard the front door slam shut. Both sets of eyes trained on the bedroom door and Yaten stepped back, standing between Seiya and the door automatically, prepared for a fight.

Hurried footsteps sounded down the hall, heading straight for Seiya's room. Behind him, he heard Seiya sit up as the door opened abruptly.

Yaten let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, "Taiki-" he hadn't really been looking forward to fighting some unknown thing by himself in a tiny bedroom with an injured Seiya. As fun as it sounded.

Taiki looked as though he'd sprinted all the way from the park – which he probably had – and hadn't bothered taking off his jacket or winter boots by the door as there were currently puddles of melting slush by his feet. "We have to leave. Don't bother packing anything."

- -

"Where are we going?" Struggling to shove his arm into his jacket as he stepped out the front door Yaten glanced over at Taiki. He had already been reassured that this was very important and no, he didn't have time to change his clothes before they left. Seiya, still exhausted, was supported on either side by his two friends, one arm over either of their shoulders.

The eerie colorless light of false dawn had crept over the horizon and the bite of cold winter air made Yaten even more aware of just how much he would rather still be sleeping in his bed at that moment. His thin pajamas were doing nothing against the cold, and he was glad that Taiki had insisted on bundling Seiya in a huge furry looking brown coat that he'd salvaged from the back of their closet. Why exactly they had it, he wasn't sure- it looked more like a skinned yeti than a coat, but it had to be warmer than Yaten's thin but oh-so-fashionable black Chanel jacket.

"We're meeting the inner senshi in the park." Came the brisk reply. The tip of Taiki's nose and cheeks were already rosy red from the cold, and he looked every bit as miserable as Yaten felt. He had been out in this while Yaten had been busy sleeping by Seiya's bed. _Ack, poor Taiki._

"AND?" This time it was Seiya's voice that cut through the sound of snow boots crunching through fresh snow on the unplowed road.

Taiki turned to look at his friend, weighing his response in his mind, "We know where they've taken Usagi, and we're going to get her back."

They continued walking, turning the corner which brought the park into view. No one said anything, but the hopeful light in Seiya's eyes was back with a vengence.

How could Seiya love someone so much who he knew would never return his affections? They all knew that Usagi would one day become a great queen and would rule over them all with Endymion- Mamoru – by her side. It was the inevitable future, and yet Seiya still cared for her. Did he intend to change the future that they knew? Or was this like one of so many ancient earth stories in which the hero or heroine, in trying to escape their own fate, would actually cause it to come true? Was Seiya going to do something that would bring Usagi and Mamoru closer together and ensure their future- thus accomplishing the opposite of what he strove for? Did Seiya even want the two of them to part?

He cast a sidelong glance at his friend. No, Seiya wasn't like that. He wanted Usagi to be happy, he wouldn't try to come between her and Mamoru for selfish reasons. He seemed to be entirely content in this one-sided love.

_I can't understand it._ A few paces later and they were through the entrance to the park, Seiya still supported between Taiki and Yaten. Taiki appeared to be deep in thought, brows furrowed as he walked.

The sun was making a feeble attempt to rise now, it's pale yellowish light tinting the horizon with color- conveniently the only part of the sky not overcast in thick dreary grey clouds. A scarce few birds chirped here and there, flitting between the branches of the trees in the park. It seemed quieter than usual- perhaps it was just the thick muffling snow, or the early hour. But then even the birds seemed to be afraid to disrupt the unnatural silence.

They passed a few benches and a water fountain, shut down for the winter, and made several more turns, thier boots still crunching loudly as they trod through the heavy snow on the ground. By now they were well into the park, the only signs of the city that lay behind them were the very tops of tall buildings peering out over the highest skeletal branches of the park's trees.

Yaten was about to interrupt Taiki's thoughts and ask just how far he intended to have them drag Yeti-Seiya when he spotted several moving blobs of color through the trees ahead.

The four inner senshi were gathered together in a small clearing, it had been Rei's bright red jacket that had caught his attention. She stood between Mako and Mina, watching Ami- who sat on one of the park's benches, her laptop resting in her lap as the light from the scrolling data flickered across her face.

As the three starlights emerged into the small clearing, the girls looked up. Mina was the first to react, followed by Rei. Both girls dashed over to them, "Seiya!" They stopped in front of the lights, looking Seiya over in concern.

The dark-haired light managed a winning smile and winked, "Ladies."

"Seiya, what are you wearing?" It was Mako, she had walked up behind the two shorter girls as they stared at Seiya- clearly more intent on oogling him than saying anything about the monstrosity of a jacket that he was wearing. Without saying anything, Taiki returned Seiya's arm and strode over to Ami. They presumably had something to figure out with the laptop.

Yaten made a face as Seiya rested more of his weight against his shorter friend. "Ohh, let me help!" Mina stepped forward and made a move for Seiya's free arm.

"I think I can manage." Yaten spoke up, loud enough that she stopped and fell back beside Rei and Mako. "Thanks though." It had taken him a moment, but he got the feeling that she really was trying to help, and the pathetic look that she gave him when he had spoken up made him feel a little bit guilty. Not much, but enough.

Seiya, still looking ridiculous as ever in the huge hairy yeti-coat, shot Yaten a quick smile which clearly said, 'See? They're not that bad.'

Yaten would beg to differ. Sure, they had their moments when he could tolerate being around them, but it just seemed too weird to him that they treated him like one of their pop idols rather than the female senshi that he.. no, she, really was.

"So- what's the plan?" Seiya asked as Yaten brushed some of the hairy jacket's brown curls away from tickling his ear.

"Well-" Mako stepped forward, her hands tucked under her arms for warmth, "We've tracked Usagi's location to another planet- not a part of this solar system at all. And ah-" she faltered as Rei sent her a significant look. "We're going to go there and get her back."

Yaten had the distinct impression that there was something that they weren't saying. "That's it? We're just going to magically waltz on over to this distant planet, walk up to whoever borrowed Usagi, say, 'thank you very much, we'll be going now' and bring her back to earth with us?"

"Yeah, pretty much..." Minako shrugged, clearly seeing no fault in this plan.

"Normally, that would be a pretty stupid plan, but we think we may have an edge considering where-" Mako added, and was quickly cut off by Seiya.

"I don't see anything wrong with that."

"You wouldn't." Yaten rolled his eyes, feeling like he was the only person who saw more than a few holes in their 'plan'.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The taller light gave his friend an offended look, and Yaten shrugged, now was probably not the best time to go pointing out how spotaniety wasn't always a good quality. Seiya added, "I just think that the sooner we act, the better. They won't expect us to have gotten together this quickly."

_This is 'together'?_ Yaten thought skeptically, _We're all tired, you really need a bath- and we have no idea where we're going or who we're up against..._

"Do we have any information on this planet that we're just blindly going to?" Yaten raised his eyebrows in question, hoping someone could provide him with some sort of useful information here. A light wind picked up, stinging his cheeks and nose as it passed. He felt on the verge of teeth-chattering cold, and hoped that Taiki and Ami would hurry up before they all froze.

"Actually-" There was an awkward moment between the three girls as they exchanged looks with one another, luckily for them, Taiki chose that moment to rise from Ami's side and call for their attention.

"Okay, we're ready. We need to stand in a circle and ah," he looked a bit sheepish, "link hands. Minako, if you could put Artemis in your bag, that should work for him." Taiki looked over his shoulder at the bench, "Sorry Artemis."

Yaten hadn't noticed Artemis sitting on the bench by Ami. His white fur acted as the perfect camouflage, allowing him to blend almost seamlessly into the snowy landscape behind him. The white cat blinked and gave the impression of shrugging.

_Nothing quite like holding hands in a circle in a park at some unholy hour of the morning when I should really be sleeping._ The thought of sleep caused Yaten to yawn and his eyes to water. A moment later, Seiya was yawning, "Don't yawn, it's contagious-" He said around the yawn. He looked much better than he had at the start of this whole missing-princess-adventure, but then, that wasn't really saying much.

They all gathered in the center of the clearing, Ami closed her laptop and put it back in her bag and Minako lifted Artemis into her bag, patting him on the head and apologizing to him as she did so. The silence was back as they linked hands- Seiya standing between Taiki and Yaten once more, Minako eagerly taking Yaten's other hand, with Rei on her other side, followed by Makoto, followed by Ami, who completed the circle by taking Taiki's free hand.

There was a pause, Yaten tried not to look as skeptical as he felt. The inners seemed to be very comfortable with this mode of transportation, Mina's gloved hand was still and relaxed in his and she stared straight ahead, apparently waiting for a cue from the other senshi. On the other hand, literally, Seiya's hand held tightly onto his, and he was sure that his grip was every bit as firm. Neither wore gloves, and Yaten was beginning to feel the numbing cold making his fingers feel clumsy and useless.

"Yaten, your hands are freezing-" Before he realized what was happening, Seiya had freed his other hand from Taiki's grip and placed it over Yaten's hand, effectively sandwiching it between his.

Yaten felt the heat rise in his face and tried to take his hand back, "I have bad circulation." But Seiya held on, his eyes sparkling mischeviously, he placed Yaten's hand against his chest, under the yeti-coat.

Granted, it was warm and made his hand prickle as the numbness began to recede, but he could all too clearly feel Seiya's steady heartbeat beneath his palm and it wasn't doing anything to tone down the blush that seemed to be building in his cheeks. He stammered uselessly for a minute, until Minako's giggling brought him back to his senses.

He quickly snatched his hand back from Seiya, as though he'd been burnt, and managed to look at Seiya without meeting his eyes, "What was that for?"

Seiya shrugged, still smiling and looking far too pleased with himself, "I was just trying to warm your hand up."  
"Well, you didn't have to be all... weird about it." Yaten realized that he was snapping at Seiya, but felt the blush finally starting to fade from his face.

Yaten's tone didn't seem to have any effect on Seiya, as he continued to grin, "I get the greatest reactions out of you though. Why would I want to stop?"

Taiki cleared his throat, "Seiya, I need your hand back. Please give the other to Yaten." Without comment, Seiya took his friends' hands and the silence began anew.

The inners' eyes were closed, since Taiki hadn't told him or Seiya to do anything, he assumed that they would be relying on the girls' abilities to be included in this strange planet-jump... or whatever it was.

Yaten found himself wanting very badly to say something, to tell them that nothing was happening and his hands were still cold, he was still tired, and yes, they were _still_ standing in the middle of a park at sunrise like a bunch of crazy people. He had an inkling of a feeling that interrupting whatever was going on right now probably wouldn't be the smartest move, and wisely kept his mouth shut.

He blinked, was his eyesight going or were the trees actually getting fuzzier? To his left he noticed Seiya frowning at the background as well as a the park began to blur even more and spin slowly around them. They didn't even know where they were going- what were the girls hiding from them? It seemed like they did know where they were going- Mako was going to tell him before Seiya had inconveniently interrupted her.

"Taiki-" Yaten whispered as loud as he dared, leaning across Seiya in an attempt to get his tall friend's attention. Taiki looked at him, "Where are we going? You never told us."

The background was spinning faster now, and Yaten felt as though he might vomit- given the choice, he would rather not travel like this again. He felt Seiya listening for Taiki's answer beside him. Taiki paused, his violet eyes on the other two lights, once again looking as though he was weighing his response, clearly reluctant to make one at all. Finally, unable to put off his reply any longer he said blankly, "We're going to Kinmoku."

Yaten caught his breath as he felt the ground drop out from beneath him.

.-.-.-.-.-.-

End of Chapter 2.

I know, it's still moving slowly... I keep trying to fit too much stuff in, and yet they don't seem to be going anywhere. Uuugh. I'm having fun writing it though, and I'm excited about all of the horrible things I have planned! Please stay tuned and let me know what you think! Thanks!


	3. Home

_**Notes:** Thank you so much for the reviews! It makes me happy to know that there are actually people reading this! I know that three reviews is probably nothing to throw a party over, but I'm thrilled! Thanks, and please keep reading!_

_Also, this fic is rated M because I don't want to censor myself- nothing too graphic though. Swearing, precarious situations, sexual content, yaoi/yuri/who-knows-what, the starlights make any situation more interesting with their gender-bending. :)_

CHAPTER 3

-

HOME

The ground rose up and hit Yaten's shoulder with bruising force as the world spun back into focus. A wave of nausea hit her as she clutched at the grass, screwing her eyes shut against the colors still exploding behind her eyelids.

Wait. She? Grass? Taiki had said-

Green eyes shot open, any feelings of sickness gone. Yaten pushed herself away from the ground and immediately brought her hands up to touch her face- no, nothing would be very different there. Hands went to her chest and she smiled broadly as they encountered soft flesh beneath her jacket rather than the hard young man's torso she'd had for so long on Earth. _I'm me again!_

It felt as though she'd been reborn, free of the biting cold of winter- the air here was the perfect temperature. Just warm enough to be comfortable, with no underlying frosty winter smell. Aches and pains from before seemed to have melted away with the old body to be replaced with a feeling of complete comfort.

When she had hit the ground, her mind was reeling, frantically trying to sort out Taiki's words – Kinmoku? It had slowed down as the calming effect of this planet had taken over. Now the thoughts came flooding back as she took in her surroundings.

_Kinmoku was... destroyed. Twelve days after the celebration of the summer solstice. I know it was destroyed. I remember all of it. _But this planet didn't scream of a violent past. There was no feeling of wrongness, just calm. Her eyes searched over the landscape- from the gently rolling hills covered in grass and flowering trees, to a little farther away where the glittering spires of a great palace sparkled in the sunlight. Golden flags, just barely visible from this distance, danced in the breeze.

_No._

She looked at the palace, the vivid green landscape, the beautiful trees – and wanted to cry. Everything was the same as it had been just over a year ago, before she had escaped with Taiki and Seiya to a hill much like the one she now sat on and had watched as their home was destroyed in the flames of Galaxia's war. With the small hope of finding their princess again, the Starlights had taken one final look at their burning planet and left.  
"We're home." Seiya had shed the hairy coat and was now standing beside Yaten, her eyes also focused on the sparkling palace in the distance.

Yaten wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and nodded. She never thought that she would see it again. It wasn't possible, was it? She slowly rose to her feet. Taiki and the inners were already standing behind her, a little farther up the hill, staring in shock at the landscape. Artemis's head peered over the top of Minako's bag as he joined their awed silence.

Taiki walked quietly over to Yaten and Seiya, long ponytail swaying behind her. A light breeze toyed with Seiya's hair, tossing the black strands against her face before changing directions. She didn't move, still transfixed by the sight in front of her, "Taiki, why didn't you tell us?"

The tallest light sighed and came to stand between her two friends, "I didn't know if it was real. I didn't want to get your hopes up."

Behind them, the inners were whispering to each other. They stood, watching the distant flags move against the sky. Flower petals from the nearest tree fluttered down through the branches to rest on the grass below.

"But how...?" Yaten tucked a stray wisp of silvery hair behind her ear and moved her eyes to Taiki.

"I don't know."

There it was. None of it made any sense, and yet here they were, Kinmoku's Starlights standing together on their home planet once more.

The wind picked up again, swirling around the smallest starlight, carrying with it the distinct scent of olive blossoms. Yaten drew a quick breath as her thoughts rushed forward. _ This fragrance... olive blossoms... _She didn't realize that she'd run several steps towards the palace until something stopped her. Turning irritably, she found Seiya holding her wrist and Taiki half a step behind ready to reach for the other. "What are you doing! We have to see the Princess- she's here, I know it. She has to be here-" Yaten was frowning at her friends, trying to pull her wrist out of Seiya's grip. The inner senshi remained, still higher up on the hill talking quietly to one another, seemingly oblivious. They were far enough away that any conversation was lost in the distance.

"Don't just rush ahead!"

Yaten quirked an eyebrow. Coming from Seiya, captain of let's-rush-into-everything-without-thinking-it-through, this was pretty rich advice. Seiya let go of Yaten's wrist, seeing that she wasn't about to rush off again. At least not for a few minutes, long enough for Seiya and Taiki to put in their two cents worth. Taiki, however, remained silent while Seiya continued. "At least give us a minute to get the Inner senshi together and we'll have a better chance of getting Odango - "

Yaten went from irritated to furious in the time it took Seiya to say the girl's name. She cut the other light off abruptly, rage written all over her face, "Seiya, you _idiot."_ She was trying not to grind her teeth, and wasn't succeeding at keeping her voice down. Somehow, through all of this, Taiki's face remained stoic and emotionless, still standing a step behind Seiya and observing.

"I wasn't talking about Usagi, I was talking about _The _Princess_. Our _Princess" The olive blossoms, the beautiful green planet and the palace... they used to live here. They grew up here. Everything had been so perfect- and Seiya was acting like she didn't remember any of it. "Kakyuu."

The dark haired light looked almost sheepish for a split-second before her eyes turned cold and met Yaten's green in anger, "Yaten, Kakyuu died."

_Don't say that. _Yaten wanted to curl up and hide. _Don't look at me like that, Seiya._ Everything was better- it had to be - they were home, weren't they? Seiya's words echoed in her mind and she swallowed back tears- of anger or grief she wasn't sure. But crying at a time like this wasn't going to get her anywhere. _Kakyuu died._ Yaten closed her eyes for a moment as the wind whipped her silky black pajama pants over her legs. _I know that._

When Yaten opened her eyes, Seiya looked as though she were holding back tears of her own, "I held her, I _remember_."

"You don't think it's possible that she's here? This planet was dead and _here it is._ You don't think maybe our princess is here? You don't think she's the one who did this? If not her, then who? HOW?" The frustration was still building, she wanted to pull at her hair, and Seiya still looked too calm. Taiki had turned and began walking back to the inner senshi, clearly figuring that like so many of their fights, they would solve this on their own.

"I don't know!" Seiya let out her breath, deep blue eyes refusing to stay locked on Yaten's anymore. They had managed to conduct this fight only two feet away from each other, and as the silence set in, Yaten wanted to back away, realizing that it was too close. Neither of them moved.

"We came here to save Usagi. Not to live in some fantasy land." Seiya's voice was back to speaking volume.

There were so many things she wanted to say in response, but she said nothing, watching Seiya's face. _Some fantasy land? You owe it more than that._

Seeing that Yaten wasn't interrupting her, she continued, "Usagi needs us. We don't know what may have happened to her after she was abducted."

When Yaten spoke, it was quiet with as little emotion as possible. "She's not your princess. I don't understand why you act as though she is." The second part was a lie. She had an idea, but thinking about it hurt. Seiya licked her lips, and looked as though she were steeling herself to say something that she wasn't sure if she ought to say or not, "Because I l-"

"No." Yaten was horrified. She wasn't sure if she'd said that out loud or in her mind, but Seiya had stopped mid-word, so she'd have to assume that she'd spoken it aloud. "No, I don't want to know." She held up a hand and took a step back, realizing that they were still standing much too close together. Seiya's stance was confident, as though Yaten's step backward had been a retreat, which, in a way, it had been.

Her eyes narrowed slightly and a curious expression crossed her face as the wind flicked her black ponytail against her back. "Why do you hate her so much?"

Yaten's first reaction would have been to deny everything. She never said that she hated Usagi. True, she didn't like the girl much. Disliked her a bit, but didn't _hate_ her. She'd never really done anything to earn that. Green eyes searched her friend's face. No, Usagi had always been kind of nice even. Even so, the way Seiya doted on her and treated her like the center of the universe... _oh no... _

Yaten blinked, praying that her thoughts weren't obvious on her face. She didn't want to even say the thoughts aloud in her mind. It would make it all too real. However, Seiya was still waiting for a reply.

Yaten forced herself to meet Seiya's eyes- deep blue behind dark lashes. Lying was more difficult when she thought about it too hard, "I don't hate her. I just- I was afraid that you'd forgotten – about Kakyuu." There, it wasn't a complete lie. It was the truth actually, just not the whole truth.

Seiya hesitated, as though questioning Yaten's answer and then shook her head, "You know I could never forget."

True, Yaten didn't think that Seiya would ever really forget about Kakyuu or Kinmoku, but she had obviously found a way of getting past the tragedy of losing both. And Yaten hated knowing that it was Usagi who had helped her.

Yaten averted her eyes from Seiya, but still felt the other light's eyes on her. She could tell that Seiya wanted to say something, and was afraid of what it might be. She gestured behind Seiya, drawing her attention to Taiki, who was walking down the hill towards them with the four inner senshi following close behind. As she'd hoped, Seiya turned to look and Yaten felt a weight lift from her shoulders. She raised delicate fingers to her head and massaged her temples, she was getting a headache, she needed to be alone for a while to think about things.

Of course, it didn't look like that was going to happen anytime soon. Afraid of betraying herself, Yaten glanced at Seiya while her back was turned. Seiya's men's clothing from earth wasn't cut to fit her new figure. It was far more snug in the chest than it had been earlier, the buttons on the button down shirt were too far apart and with the new fit Yaten realized that she could actually see _into_ Seiya's shirt. She quickly averted her eyes. _I don't like Usagi because of Seiya. Because Seiya..._

Taiki arrived to find Yaten staring at her feet, a slight blush coloring her cheeks. Seiya seemed entirely oblivious as they fell into step with the group. Yaten was vaguely aware of them discussing something and knew she should be paying more attention, but was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to listen in.

The group was walking steadily in the direction of the glittering palace, the inners discussing what their plan was, while Seiya spoke to Taiki. Yaten noticed Taiki's eyes on her, her brow creased in thought and an expression of concern on her face. She seemed to be only half listening to what Seiya was saying.

Yaten refused to look up as they walked, following quietly, half a step behind.

_We were the three Starlights when we arrived on Earth. Then we met her – Usagi. _The thought of her, made Yaten uncomfortable and she felt guilty for not liking the girl. It wasn't her fault, it really wasn't. _I'm an idiot, this is my fault. I'm the one who's been making myself miserable. _After they met Usagi, Seiya had changed- and so had Yaten, she just hadn't noticed it. She'd become bitter. _I was afraid._ Confessing it made it real, and made her feel weaker. _I felt like we were losing Seiya._ She shook her head slightly, and brushed loose silver hair away from her face once more, _I was losing Seiya._

But that was ridiculous, wasn't it? She'd never 'had' Seiya. Seiya was her own person. She had become so accustomed to thinking of everything as 'we' and 'our' and 'us' after spending so much time with Taiki and Seiya. What they had survived together on Kinmoku had only enforced the idea that they had each other – and that was all they had. It was them versus everything. The three starlights taking on the world. As long as it stayed like that they would be okay, they'd have each other. They would find their princess and it would all be alright.

But they'd found their princess, and everything wasn't alright. Because somewhere along the way, Seiya had found another princess, and it had divided the starlights.

Seiya was smiling now as she spoke to Taiki, eyes alight with confidence. Entirely unaware that Taiki still only appeared to be half listening to what she said.

_I was losing Seiya._ Yaten repeated the thought in her head, and smiled sadly to herself as she walked, following behind Taiki and Seiya. It wasn't that she had been sad that the three of them were no longer the three united guardians of Kinmoku, it had been that she realized what she was losing when Seiya had met the moon princess. _I lost my chance. _She didn't know she'd wanted to have that chance, but watching as Seiya talked animatedly and smiled walking through the landscape of the beautiful green planet, she finally realized the way her stomach did a little flip and wanted to laugh at the idiocy of it all. _I wanted Seiya to look at me the way that she looks at Usagi. I really did..._

She felt Taiki's eyes on her again and raised an eyebrow in question. The brown haired starlight smiled, she looked as though she knew something that Yaten didn't know – which Yaten was sure she did, but doubted very much that she'd have enough room in her head to fit everything that Taiki knew that she didn't.

_I guess it's for the best that I didn't realize this earlier- that wouldn't have been fair to Taiki. The three of us have been friends forever, it wouldn't be right. _Yaten had a feeling that she was just trying to rationalize the whole thing to herself.

Taiki fell back a step, clearly intent on speaking with Yaten. "You alright? I figured you'd be happy to have your body back."

That brought a slight smile to Yaten's face, "Oh I am. I finally feel like myself again. I was just thinking."

"Well try not to hurt yourself." Taiki still looked amused, and as though she still knew something that Yaten didn't.

"Thanks Taiki, I'll try." She smirked, turning her gaze to the palace once more- it was going to take half the morning for them to walk there at this pace. Seiya turned her head to glance back at her two friends and Yaten noticed the way her hair fell neatly against the side of her face. _Wait, that's wrong-_

A look of concern crossed Yaten's face, "Seiya, didn't you have-" she paused, "Can I see your face for a second?"

This question earned her a broad grin from the dark haired light, but Seiya fell back and stared at Yaten with an expression of mock-seriousness, "You know, Yaten, I wish you'd told me you felt this way about me earlier- but if you take a picture it will last you longer." Yaten laughed bitterly, _Oh, Seiya, you have no idea. And until a few minutes ago, neither did I._ But that was hardly the point and Seiya was now pretending to be offended that Yaten had laughed at her.

Green eyes observed both sides of Seiya's face – from a perfectly safe distance – and Yaten frowned, "Seiya, your face is different. The cut from last night is gone- there's no blood at all in your hair-" Taiki leaned over the shorter light's shoulder and looked at Seiya's face.

Seiya shrugged, unconcerned, "Must've disappeared when we got here and changed bodies." This answer seemed to satisfy Taiki, so Yaten let the matter go. She'd felt better when they arrived too, so maybe it was possible that Seiya's wound was gone as a result of the transformation.

"If you guys are going to walk in front, stop slowing down!" It was Makoto, she'd nearly run into Taiki while talking to Rei and wasn't really looking where she was going.

"Really, what's so interesting anyway? We've got a princess to save so let's get moving guys." Rei seemed very gung-ho about this whole rescue mission and Yaten rolled her eyes. Their small group picked up the pace nonetheless and continued walking resolutely towards the palace.

-.-.-

The sun had passed high noon by the time the group finally made it up to the palace. Tired and out of things to talk about, they had fallen silent on the last leg of the journey. The starlights in particular had fallen silent as they neared the palace, wondering what they might find inside. So far, they'd run into no sign of any other human and the quiet of it all bordered on unnatural, however, the sheer beauty of the landscape and the sight in front of them was enough to occupy their thoughts.

The palace itself was on an island towards the edge of a large lake, with a single long, low bridge connecting the island to the main land. Brilliantly white stone supported the bridge, decorated with streaming gold flags which reached high against the sky. The lake's water had been calm and placid as they'd crossed the bridge, moving beneath the gently swaying flags. Yaten remembered this bridge. When they had been younger, she'd pushed Seiya off of it – which in retrospect hadn't been a very nice thing to do. It was hardly a high bridge though, only ten feet above the quiet lake waters. Seiya had beaten Yaten in fighting classes all morning long and had been gloating about it. Yaten couldn't resist the urge to push her dark haired friend into the water as she sat on the edge, kicking her feet gleefully and reliving Yaten's mistakes in class. Taiki had looked as though she was torn between laughing and being horrified. By the time Seiya had swam to shore and walked back to her friends, Yaten had convinced Taiki that Seiya deserved the shove and Taiki had actually giggled recalling the shocked expression on Seiya's face. Seiya had refused to talk to Yaten for several days after that and it wasn't until Kakyuu forced them to spend more time together outside of classes that they'd began speaking to each other again.

The entire scene replayed itself in Yaten's memory as the group passed the spot on the bridge where the much younger Seiya had sat, beautiful blue eyes sparkling mischeviously before her friend pushed her in. This place held so many memories.

Now they stood, paused momentarily in front of the palace walls. They had crossed the bridge and made it up the winding road around the grove of olive trees, up the hill upon which the great white palace of Kinmoku stood. Perfect, flawless, its gold flags moving in the wind. Seiya, at the front of the group, drew a breath and stepped forward, through the enormous open doorway in the wall that led into the Palace's outer courtyard.

_This is it- _Yaten and Taiki followed, and the inner senshi trailed behind them as they stepped into the courtyard. They had walked halfway down the wide path that led to the steps of the palace itself when someone called out to them.

"It is you!"

They searched for the voice, and a young man appeared from the side of the path, dressed in the uniform of a palace guard. Brilliant gold embroidery decorated the sleeves of his emerald green uniform and a broad smile appeared on his face as he ran over to the group.

"Starlights! We knew you'd come eventually!" He appeared to be overjoyed, and Yaten was having trouble grasping the fact that there was someone here. Seiya had convinced her that this was all some elaborate trick or a mirage or- something. It couldn't possibly be real... But sure enough this young guard knew who they were and seemed ecstatic at their appearance. Seiya was the first to regain her composure, she replied warily, "We're here to see the princess." She said, and Yaten picked up on the barely noticable pause that she'd added before saying 'princess.' As though unsure herself which princess she was talking about.

"Of course!" He nodded, bowing, "Oh it's such an honor to finally meet you- please, right this way. The princess has been expecting you. Follow me please, I'll show you inside."

Hesitantly, they followed. They passed the large fountain in the outer courtyard and Yaten noticed a woman in a simple earth toned dress sitting on the edge with a young boy in her lap. She smiled to them as they passed and said something inaudible to the boy. This was all so strange, like some sort of bizarre dream. Yaten was tempted to pinch herself and test that theory when Minako bumped into her.

She felt that sure enough, Minako apologized quiety and continued to stare at the beautiful landscaping of the courtyard. The brightly colored flowers and small fountains that decorated the courtyard beyond the path that they walked along. Several delicate benches sat in the shade of flowering trees and every time the wind blew, petals would fall down like snow and create a fragile carpet beneath. "It's so beautiful." Minako whispered, as though afraid to break the silence.

Yaten smiled sadly, other memories of a time gone by replaying themselves through her mind, "I know."

The guard led them up the steps of the palace beneath the tall columns decorated in gold, and through the open doorway leading into the palace itself. Several steps ahead, Seiya walked alone, her raven ponytail swaying as she walked.

All the time they spent together on Kinmoku training and fighting and protecting the planet and their princess, and it took them leaving and returning once again for Yaten to realize how she'd felt about her friend.

They walked down the gigantic hallway, shoes clicking on the polished marble floor. Columns lined this hallway and here and there they would pass parts of the hall that were opened to inner courtyards and gardens. Everything was familiar, Yaten wanted to reach out and run her fingers along the smooth marble of the columns, she felt that she could spend an enternity admiring the artistry of this one hallway that she'd walked through so many times in her life and had never fully appreciated until this moment. The guard led them out of the broad hallway and into one of the side gardens decorated with a large white fountain and what seemed like dozens of flowers and blossoming olive trees. Here, he turned to address them once again.

"The princess will be out to meet you shortly, she's been waiting for you. Please make yourselves comfortable- this is your home after all." With that, the man bowed again and walked back off into the hallway. As the clicking of his boots faded, the three lights turned to look at one another, but it was Rei who spoke first, sounding very confused, "So... what do we do?"

"We wait." Seiya replied, her eyes fixed on the entrance to the gardens which they had just passed through. "And we see the princess."

Yaten wanted to object and finally tell Seiya what she thought of this plan, but she didn't have the heart. Not with the calming sound of water falling from the fountain and the intoxicating scent of the olive blossoms in the air. Yaten pulled her long silver ponytail over her shoulder and sat down on the edge of the fountain. The other senshi found benches or wandered among the flowers, Seiya continued to stare thoughtfully at the doorway while Taiki admired a cluster of small white flowers with Ami. With a sigh, Yaten lay down, allowing her fingers to trail in the cool waters of the fountain. The sky was such a perfect shade of blue and the sun reflected off the water in the fountain in such a lovely way.

It was so perfect, so peaceful. She found herself growing tired, and the familiar haze of sleep crawled into her mind. She hadn't been tired though, and she wanted to see the princess- she wouldn't want to be found sleeping in the gardens when the princess arrived. It seemed as though the haze of sleep could feel her fighting against it and doubled in strength. Yaten's eyes felt as though they were weighted down, she couldn't keep them open any longer. _Just a little nap then._ In moments she was fast asleep, delicate fingers still trailing in the fountain's sparkling waters.

-.-.-

End Chapter 3

I have a feeling that this fic is going to end up being pretty long... o.o I hope you're not bored with it! Please let me know what you think, there's lots more to come!


	4. Forget

_**Notes:** I'm sorry that this chapter took so long! I do intend to finish this story, I just had to make sure that I'd worked out enough of the storyline that I wasn't messing myself up by posting this! I also realize that Chanel probably doesn't make pajamas... but I appreciate any comments/reviews:)_

CHAPTER 4

-

FORGET

_What?_

Confusion struck before consciousness, why was she sleeping? Wasn't there something she was supposed to be doing? Where...? The few seconds between sleep and waking had always seemed to stretch on for far longer than they did in reality as the mind once again returned to the body. Sluggish thoughts tried to push their way through as she fought her way back to wakefulness, fighting the fleeting alarm that she'd forgotten who and where she was and what she was doing there.

A strange sensation raced up her arm and Yaten cracked her eyes open, glancing down towards her hand to where it floated in the cool waters of the fountain, a small cluster of flower petals bumping up against her fingers. She stared at her hand and the petals for a moment as the thoughts came back to her. Of course, she was Yaten, Starhealer, one of the lights of Kinmoku and she was...

Yaten's brow creased in thought. Well, it looked as though she were sleeping on a fountain ledge, but she couldn't for the life of her remember _why_. She pulled her hand from the waters and dried it off on her pants, sitting up as she did so and still thinking, becoming more and more irritated that she couldn't remember why she was sleeping in one of the palace gardens. _Was I drinking? Did I pass out here?_ Oh god that would be embarassing. What else had she done that she didn't remember? And why was she wearing these pants? She certainly knew her own wardrobe inside and out and these pants had never been part of it -though they were rather nice. Silky black with tiny interlocking letter C's by the hem.

Yaten pulled her ponytail over her shoulder and began to run her fingers through the silver hair in thought, now even more confused than she had been when she woke up. At least with the lingering haze of sleep she could have passed some of this off as a figment of her imagination, but try as she might she couldn't remember how she'd gotten here and why she was wearing - _are these snow boots?_ She glanced down at her feet, wondering if perhaps Seiya had slipped her something in a drink and thought it would be amusing to re-dress her and leave her somewhere. She cast that thought aside quickly, Seiya may like playing tricks, but this one would rank pretty high on the stupid scale. What amusement would she get out of it?

"Yaten!"

She glanced up in the direction of the voice. _Speak of the devil._ The late afternoon sunlight danced against black hair as Seiya stepped out from the halls of the palace into the courtyard. Yaten found herself frowning. Seiya was dressed casually - in a simple loose white shirt and black pants rather than in the foreign-looking clothes and winter boots that Yaten found herself in.

"Taiki and I have been looking for you-" Seiya sidestepped a patch of white flowers on her way to the fountain, "You were going to come watch the fireworks setup this morning with us." The taller light came to a stop in front of Yaten, hands resting on her hips.

Yaten stared vacantly up at Seiya for a moment, squinting against the sun. After a long, drawn out moment in which Seiya's amusement appeared to be growing along with Yaten's irritation she groaned, "Seiya... I haven't got any idea what you're talking about." There was an impressive headache buliding up just behind her eyes and she rubbed at it with one hand, "I think maybe I drank too much last night-"

Seiya grinned, "We all did. Just couldn't wait to start celebrating I guess-" She paused as a thoughtful look crept across her face, "It's hardly our fault though. If anything we should blame Taiki for starting a discussion about wine with the Princess."

Yaten chuckled and then winced as the movement caused her headache to worsen, "That kind of sounds familiar- I assume that from there we had to sample the wines that they were talking about."

"Of course, how could we not?"

Yaten merely grunted in response, still massaging her aching head.

"Well, come on. The Celebration's going to start at sunset- and since you've already _conveniently_ slept through weapons practice with Taiki and I, you may want to start getting ready. I ah, assume you're not wearing that to the party..." Seiya cast a curious look at the other light's strange attire.

_Celebration? What celebration... _It all sounded so familiar but something felt so out of place here and she couldn't quite place it. _Summer solstice! That's it. Ugh, what's wrong with me, I must've had more to drink than I thought._ Judging by her pounding headache, alcohol seemed to be the most plausible explanation.

"Of course I'm not wearing this to the party." Yaten swung her legs onto the ground and rose gingerly, wincing as she stood. The movement only made her headache worse. "And I would've rather gone to weapons practice if it meant I wasn't hungover as all hell-" Now with both hands on either side of her head, Yaten looked as though she were trying to hold her brain from sloshing around inside her skull as she took a few steps towards the stairs that led back into the palace. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Seiya, arms crossed over her chest, smirking as though this was the best thing she'd seen all day. Yaten made a mental note to laugh at Seiya the next time she caught her wobbling around with a hangover.

_-_---

Long fingers caressed the smooth flat surface of the mirror laid out in front of her. From just over her right shoulder a low, masculine voice spoke up, "They don't suspect a thing, my lady. So far as they're aware, their planet was never destroyed and they never travelled to the planet Earth. They are simply resuming their lives from the day it all changed – the solstice when Galaxia appeared to them and made her demands."

The corners of her mouth twitched in a near-smile, "Excellent." She watched vacantly as the image of two of the three lights speaking to each other by a fountain faded into her own reflection, "And the girls that were with them?" She ran an adoring finger over her reflection.

"As you instructed. They're being kept with the moon princess."

The woman smiled, "You've done well. Their solar system stands no chance with half its soldiers missing. When I am Queen, those who have proven their loyalty will be richly rewarded." She turned heavy lidded eyes to the man's reflection, but his eyes were downcast as he stood in a bow.

She sighed and flicked her wrist in his general direction, "You're dismissed. See to it that Kinmoku's guardians don't begin to suspect anything. I want them too distracted with themselves to have time to think on it."

Her eyes once again found her own in the mirror. She would be no fool like the others who had attempted this before her – Galaxia, Nehelenia, Beryl, the lot of them had failed. She had no intention of following in their misguided footsteps. She wouldn't underestimate the sailor senshi and their allies from Kinmoku. No, unless she had overestimated them, the three lights would eventually reclaim their memories- but it would take time. Precious time that she would use to the best advantage.

----

_Buttons, buttons, and more buttons..._Yaten stepped out of the private bathroom connected to her quarters in the palace as she did up the last of the buttons on her uniform. _If I ever need to get undressed in a hurry the palace seamstresses are going to be sewing a whole lot of buttons back onto this uniform._ That thought brought a tiny grin to her face as she picked a comb off of her dresser and began to run it through her damp hair. Several large floor to ceiling windows stood against the western wall, their gauzy curtains drawn off to the sides of each window- illuminated a bright orange by the light streaming in from the setting sun. These windows, currently thrown open to let in the warm summer breeze, doubled as doors onto the wide balcony outside her quarters. Being one of the three lights certainly had its perks- fabulous rooms among them.

Having taken a nice long bath and changing out of the strange clothes, she felt much closer to normal, though there was still something that prickled in her memory and felt out of place. It could be her empathy- with so many people gathering for the celebration there was bound to be an air of excitement in the palace and that could be what she sensed. Yaten walked over to one of the windows and leaned against the frame as she worked out a small tangle in her hair with the comb.

The celebration would be starting shortly if it hadn't already. Along with the chorus of summer frogs and crickets which had been making their own sort of music all day long in the courtyards and outside the walls, the sound of the orchestra starting up could be heard a few floors down in another area of the palace. The quiet music floated in through the open windows alongside a warm breeze which ruffled the curtains as it passed.

A knock on the door interrupted Yaten's thoughts and she turned away from the balcony, "It's open." She called in the direction of the door and nodded a greeting as Taiki stepped into the room, carrying a bottle of wine and two glasses. Yaten made a pained expression when she caught sight of the wine bottle, "Ugh, Taiki, I'm getting the impression that you're trying to kill me with wine."

Taiki smiled, hair slicked back and tied into the usual ponytail, "Well you can't really complain, that's a pretty good way to go." She set the bottle and glasses down on a table by the door and began to search for a corkscrew.

"Riiight, I've always dreamed of death by hangover." Yaten returned to combing out her damp hair, watching as Taiki found the corkscrew and set to work opening the bottle. "No Seiya?"

"No." There was a loud pop as Taiki pulled the cork out of the bottle, "She's already down at the celebration. We should probably head down there soon, we wouldn't want to miss anything."

Yaten chuckled at this, the festival was the same every year, and while she always had a fantastic time, it wouldn't hurt to be a few minutes late. Yaten set her comb down on a table by the mirror and looked over her reflection once more as Taiki poured the wine. The three of them wore their uniforms to the festival each year since it was something of a formal event- Yaten hardly minded. Their military uniforms were very fashionable – in her mind anyway. They each consisted of skinny black pants with an embroidered gold stripe down the outside of each leg, highly polished black boots, a close-fitting black undershirt, a silken red sash fastened around the waist, and a red and gold double-breasted waist-length jacket with buttons up the arms and arranged in two rows down the front of the jacket. They were perhaps a little on the ostentatious side, but nobody could say that they didn't look festive.

Pleased with her appearance, she accepted a glass of wine from Taiki. They clinked the glasses together in cheers and drank. The sky had changed from orange to red as the sun sank lower on the horizon, and the distant sounds of celebration drifted in over the balcony. "Good wine." Yaten raised her eyebrows in mild surprise, "I'd think after last night I wouldn't want any more of this for a while- but it's really quite good." She took another sip and nearly spit it back out laughing at the look of bliss on Taiki's face. "You're becoming quite the lush, Taiki." She grinned, "And you look ridiculous when you make that face." She added, taking another sip.

Taiki rolled her eyes, "I don't mind looking ridiculous- it's so good, how can you not appreciate it?" She shot an accusing look at Yaten, "There's no need to drink it down so quickly! You have to appreciate it-" Taiki swirled the wine around in the glass, watching it with an adoring expression.

Yaten took another sip, giving her friend a skeptical look over the rim of her wine glass. "Come on, Taiki, I thought you didn't want to be late to the festival." She grinned and added, "Besides, if we stay here and admire this wine as much as you seem to think it deserves to be admired we'll be here for the rest of the night."

The brown haired light looked thoughtful as Yaten drained the rest of the wine from her glass and set it down on the table. She grinned again, "Come on, let's get downstairs. I can't wait to see what sort of ridiculous outfits the ambassadors are wearing this year."

Taiki shot a longing look at the not even half empty bottle of wine as she finished her own glass, Yaten followed the line of Taiki's gaze and laughed ,"Come back and get it later if you have to – I'm sure it'll still be there. I certainly don't plan on drinking it." Yaten stepped over to the door and opened it wide, gesturing for Taiki to step through it. "I'm sure there's more than enough to drink downstairs, and unless I'm horribly mistaken Seiya's probably already started without us and is scheming something horrible for us if we show up too late."

Taiki nodded, "Now _that_ scares me." She set her empty glass down beside Yaten's before stepping out of the room.

----

Several corridors and staircases later, Taiki and Yaten emerged into Kinmoku's grand ballroom. The room, if it could be called that, was beyond impressive. Glossy white stone floors sparkled with veins of gold, mirrored in the white and gold columns that rose three stories high along the two curves of the ballroom on either side of the doorway. All along the walls rose equally tall glass windows which currently lent a brilliant view of the sunset over the island on the lefthand side of the ballroom. A grand balcony lay beyond the tall doors at the far end with steps leading down into the vast gardens below. At the time being the ballroom was fairly packed with nobles and visitors- Yaten was certain that she'd already picked out one of the ambassadors from the crowd by her lurid pink gown with giant green and yellow bows around the neck. _That woman has to be colorblind..._ She shook her head in amusement as she followed Taiki to one of the small tables off to the righthand side beneath the columns laden with various hors d'oeuvres. She picked up a small pastry wrapped in an olive leaf and began to nibble at it as she watched over the crowd.

Many of the faces were vaguely familiar to her from sessions in Kakyuu's court or from various trips around the palace, but then as was expected with such a large gathering, a good number were unfamiliar as well. The orchestra was in the middle of a lively tune when Yaten turned around in time to be handed a very full and very colorful drink in an outrageously pointy looking glass with a slice of lemon adorning the rim. Taiki grinned, holding a glass of wine while Yaten made a slightly disgusted face at her own drink.

"What _is _this exactly?" She held the obnoxious green drink up to eye level and peered into it as though expecting something horrible to come out of it. "And am I going to regret drinking it?"

Taiki shrugged, "I don't know what it is, I got into a bit of a discussion with the bartender and that was the result." She gestured at Yaten's drink. "No idea how it tastes- but let me know." Yaten saw the bartender watching her discussion with Taiki with interest and forced a smile, holding up the drink in thanks, still wondering what it was. The bartender, a cheerful looking old man, smiled and nodded in her direction before taking the next party-goer's order.

With a resigned sigh, Yaten lifted the glass to her lips and took a sip. _Ew. _She frowned at Taiki, "I don't think this drink could be any more syrupy sweet if it tried."

Taiki continued to grin, "Excellent. You could use a bit of syrupy sweetness with that attitude you always have." She looked over Yaten's head and nodded in the general direction of the dance floor, "There's Seiya."

Yaten turned, immediately picking out the short black hair and long ponytail from among the crowd. Seiya was grinning from ear to ear, dancing with the outrageously dressed ambassador that Yaten had noticed before. The setting sun's vibrant red light silhouetted the pair for a moment, the gold embroidery of Seiya's uniform picking up the light and reflecting it. Everything slowed for a moment and Yaten found herself smiling when time resumed its normal pace as several other dancing couples blocked her view of the raven haired light. She had the strangest feeling, a sense of deja vu – as though she'd already lived everything that was happening right now.

"Uh- Yaten." Taiki cleared her throat and Yaten realized she'd been perilously close to spilling her drink down the front of her jacket.

"Ah, shit. Thanks." She took another sip of the bizarre drink without really noticing what she was doing. She had the growing sense that something very important was happening and she couldn't remember what it was. She hardly noticed when Taiki excused herself to go talk with a tall gentleman, insisting that she recognized him from somewhere.

She didn't feel like being festive anymore, something was weighing on her mind, itching for her to remember what it was and it wouldn't go away. _What the hell am I forgetting? _She ran over what she'd done over the course of the day in her mind – it wasn't hard, the list wasn't very long considering she'd woken up in the late afternoon. She nodded several greetings to familiar faces as she passed, winding her way through the crowd to the balcony on the far side of the ballroom. After at least five progressively more detailed run-throughs of her day, she reached the balcony. The fresh summer breeze carried with it the scent of olive blossoms and she sighed, slouching quite ungracefully against the balcony's railing, still holding the blue drink in one hand. Now that she was out here she couldn't remember what she was so upset about- _something I was supposed to remember? Ugh, I give up. Maybe I'm just getting old, but my memory isn't what it used to be._ She raised the blue drink and took another sip. The sun had fully set while she had made her way through the crowds and now only a weak red and purple glow remained on the western horizon, fading to a rich velvety blue and then black on the opposite horizon. Clusters of stars were already visible, twinkling like so many diamonds. Yaten stared up at them for a time, resting her chin on her hand, and finally smiled. _There are so many stars out there, I wonder how many other Kakyuu-himes are out there. How many other Yatens? _ She tried to imagine a room full of identical people meeting each other, bowing and greeting each other awkwardly. The mental image caused her to chuckle and she took another sip of her drink.

"What's so funny?"

Yaten spun around to find Seiya standing a few feet away, hands tucked into her pants pockets, a nonchalant but nevertheless amused smile on her face. Yaten quickly turned her look of shock into a frown, "Between you sneaking up on me and trying to give me a heart attack and Taiki trying to give me alcohol poisoning, I'm surprised I've lasted this long." She turned her attention to the gardens that lay below the balcony, watching as several couples strolled along the paths lit with hundreds of miniscule lights. Seiya stepped up beside her, resting her arms on the balcony, mirroring Yaten's pose.

"You're missing out on a pretty great festival you know." Yaten saw Seiya watching her out of the corner of her eye and continued to watch the gardens. "Taiki's actually in there dancing with some nobleman-" Seiya looked somewhat surprised herself, "She seems to be a surprisingly good dancer, he hasn't run off screaming yet and they've been dancing for a while now." Seiya looked over her shoulder into the ballroom, "Yeah – they're still dancing."

Yaten continued to sip at her drink, getting the feeling that Seiya was trying to convince her to return to the party. After a brief moment of silence, Seiya snickered and gestured in the direction of the gardens where the hopefully colorblind pink-clad ambassador was laughing obnoxiously on the arm of her husband, who looked like he'd really rather be back inside and away from her. "Did you see the Lady Tourmaline's _lovely_ gown?"

This brought an unwitting grin to Yaten's face, and she leaned over to whisper conspiratorially to Seiya, "Why yes and I'm just _dying_ to know where she got it."

Seiya chuckled, "Oh I'm sure she'll tell you if you want to talk to her-" she stood up to her full height and began to wave her arms as though trying to get the obnoxious woman's attention.

Yaten made a strangled noise of surprise and shoved Seiya sideways, "Are you crazy! I don't want to actually talk to her! Once she starts she never shuts up-"

But with their uniforms and distinctive hairstyles Yaten and Seiya were fairly hard to miss and the Lady waved enthusiastically back at Seiya, veering off course and heading for the stairs to the balcony. Seiya grinned a bit sheepishly, "Well, I didn't honestly think she'd come over here." Blue eyes sparkled mischeviously from behind long black lashes and Yaten recognized the look that all too frequently meant trouble.

"No. Whatever it is that you're going to suggest- no."

Seiya didn't look in the least bit phased, but shrugged as the sound of Lady Tourmaline's footsteps sounded coming up the stairs. "I was going to ask you to dance, actually." At the blank expression on Yaten's face, Seiya continued, "You know, escape from-"

The Lady's footsteps grew nearer and Yaten thought she might see the top of the woman's head coming up the stairs at any moment. With an exasperated and cross expression Yaten growled an unhappy agreement at Seiya. Leaving what was left of the blue drink behind, Yaten grabbed Seiya's hand and all but dragged her at a dead run back into the crowded ballroom.

She distantly heard Seiya's laughter as she brought them to a halt abruptly off to the far side of the dance floor, by the western windows. The orchestra was just picking up a slow waltz and with a fair amount of grumbling on her part, Yaten positioned herself so that Seiya stood between her and the door to the balcony. Peering over Seiya's shoulder, Yaten watched as the Lady Tourmaline's pink dress came into view outside and wandered back and forth in confusion a few times before she apparently gave up and meandered back down the steps into the garden.

Yaten let out a breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding, "That was close. Thanks." She turned and began to walk away when something stopped her. She turned to face Seiya again, glancing down at Seiya's hand on her wrist. Yaten raised her eyebrows in question, a fairly irritated look in her eyes.

Seiya met her eyes with calm determination and smiled, "That wasn't even a whole song."

Around them, dresses twirled and the dance floor swam with the various bodies moving in time with the orchestra's music.

Yaten sighed, expression softening. _It _is _the festival-_ she shook her head and found herself grinning, "Fine. But only one song- and only because it's the festival and you look kind of pathetic when you make that face- and only if-"

"Right, right, I get it." Seiya grinned and pulled Yaten closer, placing one hand on her waist and sliding the hand that had held her wrist into Yaten's hand. Yaten shot her a look of annoyance at being pulled around, but as per usual it didn't seem to affect Seiya's mood in the least. Yaten finally gave up looking irritated at the taller light and concentrated on the dance steps. Cocky as always, Seiya had taken the lead from the start of the dance.

Yaten felt her stomach grumble, _That's what I get for eating nothing but a lousy pastry today after that impressive hangover and now- _ she realized that that blue drink must've been at least half liquor as her face felt warm and slightly numb and she had a comfortable buzz going on. _-and now I'm well on my way to waking up tomorrow with another hangover. Ugh, I'm turning into a lush like Taiki._

She caught sight of Taiki dancing a little further into the ballroom with the tall gentleman she had gone to speak with before. She did look like a good dancer- the two seemed to be deeply involved in conversation as they drifted around the dance floor without a single misstep. For that matter, she had to grudgingly admit that Seiya was a fairly decent dancer herself. The three of them had had to take dance lessons as part of their etiquitte training, but they had never danced with one another.

There was a great crescendo in the music and Yaten found herself being spun out and then back in- _oh now that's just ridiculous._ She purposefully stepped on Seiya's foot and took the lead from her, forcing Seiya to follow.

A look of surprise crossed fleetingly over Seiya's face and she shook dark hair away from her eyes, raising an amused eyebrow at Yaten. Candlelight reflected off of her hair, silver ponytail swishing as she moved, and somehow without her realizing it, Seiya had reclaimed the lead. Yaten resigned herself to following Seiya's steps, keeping her eyes on the buttons of Seiya's uniform. Now and again, she caught men and women alike casting envious looks in her direction, their eyes frighteningly hungry when they saw Seiya. She chuckled, "You have an awful lot of suitors, Seiya."

The other light seemed thoughtful for a moment before making her reply, "And you don't?" She looked down into Yaten's face, something hidden in her expression, but honest curiousity coloring her tone.

Yaten looked into Seiya's eyes and found herself embarassed to be blushing, "Well, yes, but-" she trailed off. Seiya didn't say anything, and Yaten looked away, sure that her face was an unnesessary shade of red. She concentrated once again on the steps of the dance as the orchestra played on. "It's different." She muttered lamely after what was probably too long of a pause.

"No it isn't." Seiya spoke calmly, watching the crowd absently as they danced, "It's not as though I take them up on their offers you know."

Yaten was vaguely aware that they had stopped dancing, "You don't?" She met Seiya's eyes in surprise, "Why not?" The music had come to an end and around them the crowd seemed to be moving in the direction of the balcony, but Yaten was hardly paying attention, too involved in the conversation at hand.

A somewhat sadly amused smile crept across Seiya's face, "Your empathy really doesn't work very well, does it?"

Yaten's mind felt clouded and fuzzy, "What-" she trailed off in confusion, suddenly forgetting Seiya's question as she realized that the other light's hand still rested on her waist and just how close their faces were after dancing. She didn't dare to move, acutely aware of just how astonishingly blue Seiya's eyes were from this close. "Seiya, I-"

"There you are!" Yaten drifted about in confusion for a moment as Seiya turned to greet Taiki, the extended moment between them broken by Taiki's unusually high-pitched voice. The warmth where Seiya's hand had rested against her waist was gone in a matter of seconds and she blinked away the confusion.

"You ah-" Taiki paused to give them both a curious look as though afraid that she'd interrupted something and then continued, "We're going to miss the fireworks if we don't get outside." She nodded towards the great doors that lead outside, "Watching them through the windows doesn't quite count." She winked, "I've got to get back to ah- yeah, nevermind. See you in a bit." With that, Taiki turned and disappeared into the crowd.

Yaten caught herself spacing out and forced herself to look at Seiya, who surprised her by speaking first, "I'm going to go catch up with Taiki and see who this mysterious gentleman is- you coming?" She seemed completely casual.

"Ah, no – thanks." She smiled, "I think Taiki may have succeeded in poisoning me with that drink- I'm not feeling so great, I think I'm just going to go to bed." She had a feeling that her excuse hadn't sounded as natural as she'd hoped, but Seiya merely smiled and nodded.  
"Alright. Feel better." She waved before turning to follow the crowd.

Yaten watched the dark ponytail and glittering uniform disappear into the sea of people before she turned to walk back to her rooms.

----

By the time she made it back up the flights of stairs and back several corridors – almost managing to get herself lost once simply by not paying attention to where she was going, she was beginning to feel like her excuse to Seiya might not have been so much of a lie after all. She _was_ exhausted despite the fact that she'd slept almost the entire day previous.

With a weary sigh, she began to undo the rows of buttons on the jacket, watching as the first of the fireworks exploded over the waters surrounding the island. Sparkling trails of light fell back down to the ground, disappearing before they came close to touching anything. The curtains danced gently in the breeze and Yaten threw her jacket over the back of a chair once she'd managed to undo all of the buttons. She was too tired to hang anything up tonight- and it wasn't as though she'd be wearing that uniform again any time soon. She peeled off her boots and the rest of the uniform and tossed it lazily onto the chair with her jacket. Exhaustedly, she pulled the hair tie from her ponytail and ran her fingers through her hair, watching as several more fireworks exploded outside the windows. What had Seiya meant? She sighed, massaging her temples, it irritated her that Seiya seemed to know something that she didn't. And whatever had happened at the end of the dance had been _something._ She didn't know what, but it was certainly something.

Yaten crawled into bed and pulled her fluffy comforter over her head to drown out the sound of the fireworks. Her thoughts trailed off into nothingness as she gave into the bed's comfortable embrace and fell asleep vaguely wondering, _What would have happened if Taiki hadn't come looking for us?_


	5. Remember

CHAPTER 5

-

REMEMBER

"Holy shit, Taiki!" Yaten grabbed the comforter and pulled it up to her chin. Waking to find a giddy looking Taiki standing at the foot of her bed and staring at her was certainly not on her list of good ways to start the day. "What are you doing?!"

"I was coming to wake you up- but now it seems you're already awake."

Yaten glowered, pushing silvery hair out of her face, "And _why_ are you waking me up?" She frowned, wishing she'd had the presence of mind to lock her door last night.

Taiki grinned as she sat down on the edge of the bed, "I met someone."

Yaten stared, "You woke me up to tell me that you met someone? Seriously." Taiki couldn't seem to stop smiling, and Yaten realized that the other light was still wearing her uniform from the night before. _Great, she hasn't slept. So much for me falling back asleep-_

When Taiki didn't respond, Yaten sighed. "Fine, go stand over there so I can get dressed." She shooed Taiki off her bed and, double checking that Taiki had her back turned, walked over to her closet to pick out some clothes.

"I never would have thought you'd be modest." Taiki muttered, back still turned as she stared out the window while Yaten dressed.

Yaten merely grumbled, pulling on a pair of pale gray pants and a white shirt over dark gray tank top. She turned to face Taiki, "You can turn around now." She picked a comb off of her dresser and began to run it through her hair- _ugh, I want a shower._ "So who's this person that you met?"

Taiki turned, still grinning, "Do you remember the man I was dancing with last night?"

"Vaguely- I didn't meet him." Yaten tied her ponytail back, hoping that this story was going somewhere. It was far too early for her to be awake- the sun looked as though it had only risen an hour ago. _It is waaaay too early for me. _She glanced over at Taiki as the silence stretched on. A vacant smile was spread across the tallest light's face and Yaten laughed, "Really? That good, huh?"

Taiki nodded, "We talked all night long- he's a general from one of the neighboring solar systems."She sighed, "It was almost as though he could read my thoughts. He's been working on a brief history of the galaxy and knew some extremely interesting facts about Kinmoku that I'd never read of before."

Taiki continued on for a few minutes, praising the general's knowledge of various subjects and his extensive grasp of the language of ancient Kinmoku. Yaten finally interrupted, "And I'm sure none of your attraction to this man has anything to do with his good looks."

Taiki paused, looking offended, "No!" She hesitated a moment before grinning again, "Okay, it helps a little."

"Hm." Yaten made an unconvinced noise, smiling. She stepped over to the open window by Taiki and leaned against the frame, watching fluffy clouds drift across the bright blue sky. _Good for her._ Taiki had never really seemed interested in anyone before now, it was about time that she found someone who made her happy. It didn't look like peacetime on Kinmoku was going to end anytime soon- and that left the starlights with plenty of free time. Why shouldn't they be able to persue happiness like any other citizen of the planet?

"Did I interrupt something between you and Seiya last night?" Taiki's question came out of nowhere and broke Yaten's train of thought. Her heart felt as though it had skipped a beat, but she smiled and replied, "No, why would you think that?"

Taiki grinned, "Yaten, you may be a good liar to anyone else, but I know you and I can tell when you're lying."

"Nope, I don't know what you're talking about." She shrugged, still looking out the window.

After a pause, Taiki spoke again, "Did you know that when people look at something that they desire their pupils become dilated?"

"So?"

"So, last night both of you looked high as a kite." Taiki continued to smile and Yaten yawned.

"Taiki, I hate to tell you this- but I think lack of sleep has made you a little loopy." She patted the taller light on the shoulder. "Since I'm up now," she frowned briefly, "I think I'm going to go get breakfast."

"Mmm, I'm going to bed." She sighed, "Thanks for not killing me for waking you up, I appreciate that."  
"Right-" Yaten smirked as she stepped away from the window and made for the doorway, followed by Taiki.

She turned to walk downstairs, in the opposite direction from Taiki when the other light spoke, "You know, the truth is going to come out eventually... It's been a long time coming."

Yaten didn't bother turning around, she just shook her head as she walked away down the hallway, "Goodnight, Taiki."

---

The morning passed without incident, leading into late afternoon. Taiki had slept through the day and Yaten was betting she'd wake up just in time for dinner. Whatever Seiya was up to was keeping her busy, Yaten hadn't seen any trace of her. She'd been trying to track down Kakyuu all day, feeling guilty about leaving the fesival early the previous night and not even getting a chance to greet the princess. Kakyuu too seemed indisposed- every time Yaten approached the throne room the guards informed her that she was busy in some meeting with one ambassador or another. It was well into the evening, close to dinnertime, when Yaten finally gave up trying to get in contact with the Princess. Clearly with all of the visitors still in the palace from the festival, she would be in high demand for meetings and discussions about various matters of state. A feeling of unrest lodged itself in the back of Yaten's mind. She felt discontent and nothing seemed to satisfy the unease. She'd seen Taiki's dashing General friend walking down one of the corridors to the throne room earlier and had tried to keep herself from grinning recalling Taiki's babbling from earlier that morning.

Without realizing it, her feet had once again taken her to the entrance of the throne room. The tall doors stood closed and the guards at either side ignored her for the most part. She frowned, _I could just go in and join the court in whatever proceeding is going on- it's not like I'm unwelcome there. Then I could at least see the princess. I'd know she wasn't being overworked._ She was just about to push the doors open and carry through with this plan when someone bumped into her and she felt a cool liquid spread across her back. _What the-?_ She turned away from the doors to see Taiki's General standing there, a sheepish look on his face and an empty wineglass in his hand. A tiny amount of deep red liquid remained at the bottom of the glass. Yaten gritted her teeth, wanting to shout at the man, but realized that it wouldn't really be appropriate seeing as he was a political visitor to the Palace. Even if he had just spilled a very dark red wine down the back of her previously white shirt. _How the hell do you manage to bump into someone in a huge and empty hallway? He's either completely drunk and uncoordinated or he did that on purpose._

Yaten realized that she was glaring at the General as though she wanted to rip him into tiny little pieces despite her friend's feelings towards the man.

He winced, "Oh my god I'm so sorry- I'm afraid I wasn't looking where I was going at all-" He did look honestly sorry and embarassed at how clumsy he'd been. _White shirt. WHITE shirt. Couldn't it have been something that I don't wear much or something that I don't like or- something that wasn't white-?_

Yaten sighed, trying not to glare at the man, "That's alright. I'll just go change."

"Ah, excuse me-" He stopped her, "I don't suppose you could tell me if you've seen the lady Taiki?"

_The lady Taiki?_ This amused her, she couldn't remember anyone ever referring to Taiki as a 'Lady'. "No, sorry. Last time I saw her was this morning before she went to bed."

"Ah well, nevermind. Thank you though-" He smiled, "And I'm sorry for the- ah-"

"Don't worry about it." Yaten stalked off in the direction of her rooms, still trying hard not to turn and shout at the man for ruining one of her favorite shirts in an act of complete idiocy.

---

Yaten stripped off her wine-soaked shirt as she reached her room, still cursing out Taiki's General in her mind. _What was he doing wandering around the hallways with a glass of wine anyway? That's hardly good behavior for a visiting General-_

The amount of time that it had taken her to reach her rooms was enough for the wine stain to set in. There was no point in trying to salvage it and she balled it up and threw it onto the floor by a chair already heaped with other clothes. _I need to clean.. wasn't this room clean yesterday?_ She glanced at the chair and its pile of clothes, noting the strange pants that she'd been wearing the morning that she woke up on the fountain ledge.

_I still don't remember anything about that..._ she stepped over to the chair and pulled the pants out from beneath her uniform from the night before. There was something familiar about them. She held them up in front of her and sighed. She had been wearing an unfamiliar jacket too. Still curious, she rifled through the pile on the chair, finally spotting the thin black fabric of the jacket and pulling it off of the chair. As she did this, something small and white fell out of the pocket and hit the floor. A tiny little square screen lit up on the white surface as it hit the ground.

_What the...?_ Jacket and pants forgotten, she placed them back on the chair and reached down to pick up the object. It was small and light, fitting in the palm of her hand with long white wires coming out the top of it. _This seems so familiar..._ She rose to her feet, still entranced by the little white object. The light of the thing's screen went out. Yaten frowned. Only seeing one button on the thing, she hit it and watched as the screen lit up again. There was a tiny vibration and then quiet music broke the silence in the room.

The little white object nearly slid from her hand as her eyes flew open and she stumbled backwards several steps. Seiya's clear voice rang out quietly from the headphones that dangled from her hand.

"_Chasin' After You, oimotomete - Ano FUREIGURANSU anata wo…"_ She felt the wall that had blocked her memories burst as they flooded back into her mind; Kinmoku's battle and destruction, Galaxia, their escape to earth, the moon princess and her senshi, Kakyuu's death, Galaxia's defeat, Usagi's kidnapping, their arrival here-

Yaten drew a sharp breath and squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her hand to her forehead. Silent tears leaked out from behind closed lids. _None of this was real. We've been living in an illusion-_ panic struck, _Seiya and Taiki still don't know._ She wiped the tears away from her eyes quickly. She'd already cried for the deaths that she was only now remembering, doing so again wasn't going to make anything better. _I wanted it to be real so badly- whoever did this to us probably didn't have a very hard time making us forget the past. _Yaten wiped her hands on her tank top and stuffed the iPod into her pants pocket.

_I have to find Seiya and Taiki…_ She practically flew from the room, running down the corridor in the direction of the library, where she figured she'd be most likely to find Taiki. Knowing that she was running through an illusion didn't make it any easier- everything was exactly as she remembered it being. The hallways, the smells, the light-

The festival had even been the same- up until sunset anyway. In reality Galaxia had appeared and demanded their surrender and their star seeds- instead of –

_Seiya._

The slapping of Yaten's shoes on the marble floors slowed as she turned a corner, nearly falling. _She didn't…_ but the scene from the previous night replayed itself in her mind as her thoughts raced.

_"No it isn't." Seiya spoke calmly, watching the crowd absently as they danced, "It's not as though I take them up on their offers you know."_

_Yaten was vaguely aware that they had stopped dancing, "You don't?" She met Seiya's eyes in surprise, "Why not?" The music had come to an end and around them the crowd seemed to be moving in the direction of the balcony, but Yaten was hardly paying attention, too involved in the conversation at hand._

_A somewhat sadly amused smile crept across Seiya's face, "Your empathy really doesn't work very well, does it?"_

_Yaten's mind felt clouded and fuzzy, "What-" she trailed off in confusion, suddenly forgetting Seiya's question as she realized that the other light's hand still rested on her waist and just how close their faces were after dancing. She didn't dare to move, acutely aware of how astonishingly blue Seiya's eyes were from this close. "Seiya, I-"_

_­_

Yaten turned another corner, entering into a long hallway that ran the length of the palace's north wing. Tall glass windows lined the right side of the hallway, looking out over the gardens, palace, and hills beyond. _How could I be so stupid not to see that? _

"Yaten?"

Yaten skidded to a halt and turned around, Seiya had just stepped out from one of the larger rooms along the hallway. She looked worried and Yaten retraced her steps to stand in front of the other light. "Seiya, I have to talk to you about something-"

_How am I supposed to explain this? 'Oh yeah, hey Seiya, this is all in our imaginations and we're being manipulated. Remember when our planet blew up?' Damn, there's no way I'm going to be able to explain this without sounding like I've lost my mind completely._

"So do I." Seiya's voice was quiet.

Yaten was caught off guard and blurted, "What?" she tucked silver hair behind her ear as it fell into her eyes.

Seiya raised an eyebrow, perfectly aware that Yaten had heard what she'd said, "I said, I have to talk to you too."

Yaten had lost her momentum with Seiya's interruption and now stared up at the dark haired light at a complete loss for words. Sunlight streamed in through the windows along the hallway. The silence between them lengthened, and there was an odd tension in the air that hadn't been there before.

_I don't want to tell her, I really don't. So what if this isn't real? It seems real enough to me… we don't owe those girls anything. S_he knew without a shadow of a doubt that what she was thinking was wrong. But damn it all if the temptation wasn't there… _Dammit, Seiya, why couldn't I have realized you felt this way before?_ She swallowed nervously, _If you knew how much I want you, and how much this whole situation just stinks... well… it's not fair._ She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the dark-haired starlight, resting her head against her chest. _I'm sorry, Seiya- I know I have to tell you._ She went to reach into her pocket to pull out the mp3 player, but Seiya's fingers under her chin stopped her. Surprised, Yaten looked up into her face, realizing as she did so that it was a mistake. Her heart beat faster, and any ability she'd had to resist melted away.

Her eyes fell closed as Seiya leaned in and kissed her. Her lips were soft and warm and everything that Yaten had imagined they would be. Not realizing what she was doing, she held onto a fistful of Seiya's shirt and pulled her closer, pressing their bodies together.

_SHIT! _Yaten abruptly broke the kiss, pushing herself away from Seiya – blushing and embarrassed that her body had betrayed her. "No." After a moment's hesitation, she looked into Seiya's face, now standing a safe distance away, "I can't."

Seiya sighed, dark hair slightly messy as usual. Her face was a mix of confusion and resignation, as though she'd almost expected Yaten's reaction, "Am I not good enough?"

Yaten's body went rigid as she recognized the words and Seiya's eyes widened as she realized what she'd said. For a horrifyingly long and silent moment they stared at each other. With as little movement as possible, Yaten reached into her pocket and drew out the mp3 player. She pressed play and the silence was broken by the quiet singing coming from the headphones.

Seiya's face was a mask of bitter amusement, "You knew." She paused, not seeming particularly amused, "I guess I should have let you talk first."

END Chapter 5

**_Notes:_** Is this story completely lame? I had been looking forward to writing this chapter but it really didn't turn out how I wanted it to. I would love any input/thoughts/reviews if you read it!! Please?

Also... the song on the iPod is "Chasing After You" from the Sera Myu performances of Sailor Moon Stars and "Am I not good enough?" is Seiya's oh-so-famous line from the rooftop scene with Usagi in episode 194 of Stars.


	6. Evade

_**Notes**: Sorry for the delay in updating- life's been crazy lately with the holidays and New Year's in combination with work and school. The reviews really motivate me- so thanks soo much guys! If it weren't for you I probably would go many more months between chapters! I'll leave the rest of my notes for after the chapter… as usual, reviews are highly appreciated!_

* * *

CHAPTER 6

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EVADE

The silence grew. _Say something, I have to say something-! I can't leave it at this! I returned that kiss and she knows I wasn't still under the illusion. …What the hell was I thinking?!_

Seiya let out a breath, evidently sick of waiting for the silence to end without her help, "Does Taiki know?" Despite the pleasantly warm summer air in the palace, Yaten had to forcibly restrain herself from shivering. Seiya's voice had changed so drastically in a matter of seconds. There was no warmth in it whatsoever when she spoke, cold eyes watching her with an unnervingly calculated edge.

Yaten shook her head, "No." She slid the ipod back into her pants pocket. _Augh! Don't you dare be mad at me for this, Seiya. _But there was no denying the frosty mask that had settled over the taller starlight's features. "I was just on my way to the library to try and find her."

"Then let's go." The library was still a good distance away, and Yaten had no choice but to run after Seiya as she took off for the library.

Her mind was filled with a stream of colorful words as she ran after Seiya, wanting very badly to put off 'saving the world' and figure out what exactly had just happened between them. The taste of Seiya's mouth on hers still lingered on her lips and her stomach felt tied up in knots as she thought of the accusing look Seiya had given her. _I didn't mean for that to happen, but I can't deny that I wanted it to- why does everything have to be so complicated?_

Obviously stopping everything to talk about their feelings wasn't an option – and probably wasn't something that Seiya was even remotely interested in doing now that she'd regained her memories- including the memories of Usagi. As they sprinted down the hallway towards the library, Yaten watched the other light out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't much consolation to find that Seiya looked about as irritated and frustrated as Yaten was feeling.

Voices echoed quietly through the open library doors and Seiya held out her arm as she slowed down, indicating that Yaten should do the same. Still thinking about a certain dark-haired starlight rather than the possibility of cross-galaxy warfare, Yaten stopped running just in time to miss running into Seiya's outstretched arm. She shot a glare in Seiya's direction, but the other light was busy listening to the voices in the library.

It was Taiki's voice, and by the sound of it she was still discussing Kinmoku's history with the General. Yaten almost snorted at the irony of Taiki discussing Kinmoku's history in the current situation.

_This isn't right. _Yaten noticed that Seiya's dark hair had just vanished through the doors of the library and she swore, following after her once again. Just inside the doors, Seiya stood with her back to the wall- Taiki and the general were behind one of the large bookshelves at the far end of the room and didn't seem to have heard or noticed their presence.

Seiya looked as though she were about to make a move to confront the pair when Yaten reached forward and grabbed her hand. "Wait!" She whispered, once Seiya turned, frowning, to glare at her. Yaten hurriedly let go of her hand, ignoring the hateful look that Seiya was giving her. "Something's not right here."

Seiya raised a dark eyebrow, listening.

"Well? Don't you think it's a little strange that Taiki's been able to talk to that General so much without realizing that this whole thing is fake?" Seiya's face remained expressionless, and Yaten continued, green eyes locked onto icy blue. "I don't think we're the only real people in this illusion." Her voice was barely a whisper and she nodded in the direction of the voices, "And I'm not so sure that he's on our side."

Seiya broke eye contact, glancing over her shoulder in the direction of the voices and then turned to look at the shorter light once more. "What do you want to do about it?"

She paused, trying to force the voice in her head to be quiet and wishing that it would stop thinking about how soft Seiya's lips had been. "Be careful."

_I have to think about something else, this is insane. If I keep thinking like this I wont' be able to focus on anything else- and there is quite a lot of 'else' to be focusing on right now. I didn't spend years training my empathy to lose complete control of myself now just because… because Seiya kissed me._ She sighed quietly as Seiya once again turned her back to watch the far end of the library where Taiki continued to talk with the general. _Yaten, you're an idiot. No matter how much you want to deny it, Seiya's in love with Usagi and you never entered into that equation. It doesn't matter why she kissed you, just get the fuck over it and move on. _

_And stop talking to yourself, it comes off as a little crazy._

Seiya hovered at the edge of the library, evidently lost in thought – or listening intently – it was difficult to tell. Her head cocked slightly to one side, vivid blue eyes unfocused as she stared at nothing in particular. Her jaw was set in fierce determination, the blue-black ponytail pulled over her shoulder.

Shoving her thoughts aside, Yaten strode past the taller starlight – if she wasn't going to think about _that_ situation, she had to keep herself busy. She felt more than saw Seiya's attention snap onto her as she passed, curiousity reaching out towards her. She ignored it and made her way towards Taiki and the general, passing empty tables and chairs and more than a few shelves of books as she passed.

Fueled by the pent up frustration, she didn't stop to henshin, just kept on walking, allowing the light to wash over her, replacing her clothes with the black vinyl uniform that she'd grown so accustomed to. Since the end of the battle with Galaxia, she'd had no reason to wear it, but now she found comfort in the slick black material with its small gold and green accents.

As she passed the final bookshelf, she heard Seiya's footsteps behind her – it had taken her a few moments of confusion before she followed after Yaten, and she apparently hadn't felt the need to henshin – for which Yaten was secretly grateful. Keeping her mind on the present was hard enough without Seiya wearing her own suggestively revealing uniform. Her mouth quirked a tiny half-grin at the mental image, and she swatted it away taking up a firm stance, hands on her hips, at the end of the long library table.

The table was so covered in books and bits of parchment with tiny scribbled notes all over it that the tabletop was only visible in several places. A few tall columns of books teetered precariously as the General rose abruptly from his seat. Taiki glanced up from her notes, confusion written plain across her face as she looked up at Yaten – now Healer.

"You're a part of this." Yaten spoke accusingly, green eyes narrowed and met with the General's. There was a moment's pause, and then, unexpectedly, he smiled.

"Hello, Starlights." He raised his eyebrows at the two lights before turning to Taiki, "I'm sorry about this, Taiki. But I want you to know that I meant everything that I said." In the eerie silence, he lifted Taiki's hand from the table, ignoring the bewildered look that she was giving him, and placed a kiss on the back of her hand. With another smile, he turned his attention back to Yaten.

"I hoped for my own sake that it would take you longer to figure this out. But since it didn't…" he sighed and fished something small out from the pocket inside his vest. "You'll be needing this." He tossed the object across the table. Before Yaten could process that she was expected to catch something – not one of her strong points – Seiya casually reached her hand out in front of the other light and plucked the object from the air.

Yaten shot her an irritated look – which Seiya missed, too busy looking down at the object in her hand. What appeared to be a small glittering gold key sat in Seiya's open palm, tiny rubies sparkling along its bow.

About now, Taiki found her voice, "What the hell is going on?"

Yaten lifted her head, unsurprised to find that the General had vanished. Beside her, she heard Seiya chuckle, "Taiki, you swore."

The brown haired light scowled and stood from her seat. "I'm serious, Seiya." Taiki leveled a firm stare at the leader of the lights, waiting expectantly for some kind of answer. Seiya shrugged, tossing the tiny key in the air and catching it again. "Well…"

Explaining the illusion to Taiki was a short task, however, it alarmed both Seiya and Yaten that the other light hadn't reclaimed her lost memories. She believed them when they told her what had happened, but couldn't recall any of it. For the time being, they concluded that they'd have to settle for Taiki's belief in them, and hope that something would trigger the lost memories – preferably something _soon._

"So how do we get out of this?" Taiki asked at the end of their explanations. Her voice held an element of worry mixed with exhaustion- something that Yaten found a little disconcerting. It wasn't like Taiki to let her emotions show through into her voice. Even when they had been on Earth searching for their princess, all the way through to the battle with Galaxia- Taiki rarely displayed any emotion. What had happened between her and that General? Yaten caught herself staring at Taiki, brow furrowed in thought.

"I'd suggest we start by finding out what this key goes to. Though it could just be another diversion. I'm not sure how much we should trust that General. He made it sound as though he was at least partially responsible for us being here in the first place." Seiya ran a hand through her hair, further messing up the already tousled locks. "Not to mention we came here with the other senshi- so they should be here somewhere, right? And we still haven't found Usagi."

Yaten found herself once again appreciating the 'benefits' of the starlights' uniforms- the benefits which all too often doubled as drawbacks. Aside from being provocative in their cut and in the nature of the sleek and shiny material, the uniforms also acted to amplify their powers. So, in Yaten's case, her empathy was magnified- and in the current situation she couldn't help but notice the wave of unease emanating from her two companions along with the noticeable pause and hitch of uncertainty in Seiya's voice when she spoke Usagi's name.

Yaten found herself looking through the eyes of her empathy – she could clearly feel the other two lights in the room, their thoughts a dull and undistinguished buzz behind their own mental shields. Not that she'd ever look into their minds uninvited. The rest of the room around them was eerily empty. It was akin to space, there was nothing else truly alive around them, nothing with thoughts or feelings of its own. The birds and animals on the grounds were all a part of the illusion and as such they were as empty and nonexistent as the palace itself.

From somewhere in the lower levels of the palace a gentle whisper of thought brushed against Yaten's senses. Without a moment's hesitation she followed it to its source.

"The throne room." Seiya and Taiki turned to look at her. Snapped from her reverie, she met their eyes, "They're in the throne room." _Of course! I should have realized that the General was trying to keep me from the throne room for a reason- he wasn't just drunkenly wandering the hallways with wine, he was keeping me from finding the senshi._

"Is-" Seiya began, but Yaten cut her off irritably.

"Yes, Usagi's there too. They're all there." She moved away from the table, flicking her silver ponytail over her shoulder.

"Don't interrupt me." Seiya spoke icily, meeting Yaten's eyes with a look of deepest loathing. Without further comment the taller light strode past her silver haired comrade.

Yaten seethed in frustration and anger, clenching her hands into fists. Reluctantly she followed after Seiya and Taiki, realizing that Seiya had every intention of ignoring her.

Once again cursing mentally, she walked down the hallway alongside Taiki and just behind Seiya. She hardly noticed when Taiki called up her own henshin and donned the same black uniform- with the minor substitution of Yaten's green for her own violet.

They walked in silence down the hallway, boots clicking against the polished marble. Finally, Taiki's voice broke the quiet, "How did they know what the palace looks like?" She glanced sideways at Yaten, "I mean to make this illusion believable to us- how could they have known every detail to the extent that _we_ believe… or believed it?"

There was a brief pause, filled with the clacking of boots again and then Seiya replied, not bothering to turn around, "They took my memories."

_Ah, that explains it…_ Yaten put together the pieces in her mind even as Seiya spoke them.

"Luna was the bait for Usagi to follow- and-" she seemed to be having trouble saying it, "that was the bait to get me. Or one of us anyway. When they knocked me out they must have taken my memories of here and built the illusion off of that. Whoever did this must have known that we would go to any lengths to rescue Usagi." She snorted, "They were right."

_So with a minimum of effort whoever is behind this managed to capture all of us. Great. We're idiots._ Yaten sighed as they continued down a grand flight of stairs towards the lower levels of the palace, apparently stopping talking to herself wasn't something that she was very good at.

The remainder of the walk passed in silence, and no more than five minutes later the three of them stood in front of the grand doors to the throne room.

_I hope we have a planet to return to by the time this is over… _

The three lights – Seiya still stubbornly dressed in her civilian clothing – halted in front of the throne room, staring at the two-story double doors apprehensively.

Seiya rested her hand on one of the great doors' handles when Taiki's voice once again interrupted the quiet.

"Did I miss anything else while we were under the illusion?" The tallest light's eyes were locked on Seiya's. Yaten felt Seiya hesitate, still returning Taiki's gaze, and then shift, blue eyes flicking to Yaten's for a split second. For that excruciating second, they shared a look. A look which told Yaten that the other light still remembered very clearly what had happened earlier.

"No." Yaten spoke up, turning her back to Seiya. She was pleased to find that her voice was steady and unwavering. "Nothing. You didn't miss anything."

Only a complete moron would believe that with the way that Seiya – normally confident enough for all three of them – had just hesitated significantly. Taiki was not a complete moron. But with a brusque nod, she let the subject drop.

Once more, quiet set in.

With a gentle tug, the door opened – just wide enough to permit them to enter. Without comment, Seiya stepped inside, followed by Taiki and Yaten. The throne room was every bit as eerily silent as the rest of the palace had been. Grand clerestory windows allowed light from outside to cascade into the open space, illuminating the five eerily coffin-like boxes arranged on pedestals in a row where the thrones would have normally stood. Seiya looked visibly shaken as she stepped up to the first box and looked down into it through its glass cover. Her demeanor had softened a little from what it had been before as she turned to glance over her shoulder at Yaten, "Well?"

Seiya's voice echoed in the open space and Yaten had to restrain herself from flinching. There was power lying dormant in this room, and breaking the unnatural silence was almost painful. Taiki had stopped by the second box, hands resting lightly against the glass surface.

"Well what?" Yaten frowned, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Well what's wrong with them?" Seiya turned her eyes once more to the casket. Yaten had yet to actually see what- or who- was inside, but had a fair guess that if she cared to look, a certain blonde haired princess's face would greet her. "You're the Healer, aren't you? Can you fix this?"

Yaten lifted a gloved hand and brushed white hairs away from her eyes, still frowning at Seiya. Without comment, she stepped up beside the supposed 'leader' of the starlights and, placing her palms against the glass, closed her eyes for a closer inspection.

Amid the swirling energy radiating from herself and the other two lights, Yaten reached into the energies created by Usagi and her senshi. Trapped within a sticky web, their powers were contained- locked beyond use in a state which kept them in a deep sleep.

The minutes passed in silence, Yaten's eyes still closed as she delved deeper into the powers which kept the senshi trapped in an enchanted sleep.

In those moments of quiet Seiya lifted her eyes from the sleeping moon princess and watched her pale haired companion. There was a tiny crease between the green eyed light's brows as she worked through the throne room's sorcery, light reflecting from the glass of the casket and illuminating her silver hair in an almost ethereal glow.

So it was when Yaten finally opened her eyes, that she found Seiya with an unusually soft and unguarded expression over her features.

"What?" Yaten snapped, frowning again. _She probably thinks I'm taking too long. Ugh, well she's welcome to try and figure this crap out for herself if she thinks she can do any better… dammit all Seiya._

The unusual expression had vanished from Seiya's face, to be replaced with the impassive mask from before. "What do you mean what? Can you help them or not?"

She sighed, "I think I can wake them up-" here her voice faltered slightly, "not all of them though. Usagi's not under the same enchantment as the rest of them. The rest are just tied up with sleep… hers-" Yaten nodded to the motionless princess in front of her, "is something else. I wouldn't know how to break that." She noticed something in Seiya's expression waver, but the other light only nodded.

"Do what you can." It was Taiki, her back turned to them, hands still resting on the casket in front of her. When she turned around to give a slight reassuring nod, Yaten glimpsed wetness on the other light's cheeks.

Taiki smiled faintly, "I remember now."

Quietly Yaten walked over to stand beside Taiki. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of blue and knew that it was Ami's casket that Taiki had been hovering by. On her other side, Seiya stepped up and Yaten did a quick double take as she realized that in a span of seconds Seiya had finally given in and called up her own henshin starlight uniform.

_Damn uniforms._ She quickly turned her attention to the casket beneath her hands, afraid that Seiya may have already caught her blushing. She blinked a few times and examined the glass surface of the case, running gloved hands over the smooth surface. By the bottom of the case was a small, ornately cast opening- just large enough to be a keyhole. "Seiya, can I have that key?" Yaten refused to lift her eyes from the case, but held out her hand expectantly.

A moment later she felt something warm pressed into her hand. It was only the work of a few seconds to turn the key – which caused the glass covering above Ami to dissipate into a glowing mist before vanishing completely.

Seiya raised her eyebrows in slight surprise and Yaten handed her back the tiny key.

Hesitantly, Yaten held her gloved hand open, palm down, hovering just over Ami's chest. She took a quiet breath and closed her eyes, setting her energies to undoing the unnatural sleep.

Across from her Taiki stirred her face downcast as she watched the sleeping soldier expectantly, eager for any change from her current state. Seiya watched the proceedings absently, her mind clearly on other things as she stood, Taiki on her left and Yaten across from her.

It didn't matter that she hadn't the smallest inkling of empathic abilities; she could still feel the power coiling beneath the silver haired light's palm. It made the hairs at the back of her neck stand up, and created a kind of energy similar to the power that hung in the air before a lightning storm.

Standing like this in silence, it was hard to tell how much time had passed. The quiet was finally brought to an end when Ami drew in a loud and desperate breath of air.

Her eyes flew open and she immediately sat up, looking at each of the starlights in turn trying to make sense of her situation. Ami had obviously been a good choice for which of the senshi to wake first. She didn't barrage them with questions or leap up and run anywhere as Rei probably would have. She simply sat, staring at them, waiting for them to tell her what had happened.

A smile ghosted across Taiki's face as she helped Ami out of the odd casket, volunteering herself to explain.

_I'm glad that worked…_ Yaten sighed, ignoring the others as she moved to the second casket – Rei's. She hadn't been entirely confident that she'd be able to break the spell's hold on the girls. Granted, the effort left her feeling drained of energy, but there was nothing she could do about that._ Only three more to go. Ha… 'only'._

"Seiya." She called, getting the other light's attention. Seiya turned away from Taiki and Ami to look at Yaten questioningly. "I need the key again."

Wordlessly, the leader of the starlights moved around the now empty casket and walked over to where Yaten stood. Black boots clicked quietly against the marble as she came to a halt in front of the shortest light, the key held in her outstretched hand.

_How are we going to get out of this mess…? What a disaster- though it's nice that we haven't had to resort to fighting anything yet._ She reached out to take the key from Seiya, _though this whole 'unseen enemy' bit is a little irritating._

Yaten paused, glancing up at Seiya in irritation. The other light wasn't letting go of the key. _Oh really, now's not the time._ "What?" She snapped, frowning at the taller woman, who was once again regarding her with that strangely soft expression

"About what happened earlier-" Seiya paused, raven hair brushing the sides of her face, I-"

"Don't worry about it." Yaten pulled the key from her grip and turned her back to Seiya as she bent to unlock Rei's casket.

_The last thing I want from you is some sort of apology. _Yaten fumbled with the key for a few seconds before she turned it, hearing the tumblers click into place and the glass above Rei vanish as it had on Ami's casket. _ How about we just don't talk about it- you obviously think it was a mistake, so I'm fine with pretending it didn't happen. _She stood, frowning, and held onto they key this time still ignoring Seiya.

The taller light watched as Yaten once again hovered one hand above Rei and closed her eyes. The frown faded from her face as concentration set in.

Seiya shifted her weight from one foot to the other; this silent and insidious start to a battle was not to her liking. She felt useless watching Yaten wake the senshi one by one with no way of assisting and nothing to fight- whoever had trapped them here in this illusion was going about things in a very smart, but in her opinion cowardly, fashion. Several paces away Taiki was explaining to Ami the illusion and what had happened, her voice, even at a low whisper, reverberated off of the tall throne room walls.

Moments later Rei awoke, in the same fashion as Ami only with far more _noise._ After a brief moment of attempting to orient herself and sit up, she scrambled from the casket, "What's going on?! What happened?!" She fumed, casting about angrily for someone to answer her questions.

Seiya couldn't prevent the faint smile of amusement from creeping across her face- somehow Rei's temper always entertained her. However she noticed out of the corner of her eye Yaten gripping the edge of Rei's now empty casket for support before the smallest of the starlights collected herself and moved to the third- presumably Makoto's.

"Fighter-" Rei was stalking over to her, and without hesitation (but some guilt) Seiya strode past her after Yaten.

"Taiki will explain- he's over there with Ami." Seiya's black ponytail glinted blue for a moment as she passed beneath one of the rays of sunlight that fell through the high clerestory windows. Rei stood with her mouth open in startled anger before turning and redirecting her angry march towards Taiki and Ami.

When Seiya arrived by the third casket, Yaten was already poised with her hand over Mako, her eyes closed.

"You're going to hurt yourself if you don't slow down." Seiya remarked, arms folded casually across her chest.

Unsurprisingly, Yaten ignored her.

As with the previous two times, Makoto opened her eyes, sat up, and looked around in confusion. "Fighter?" She frowned, more than a little puzzled.

"Yeah…" Seiya sighed and waved in the direction of Taiki, Ami, an Rei, "They can explain." She offered her hand to Makoto to help her down. Still wearing the blatantly confused expression, Mako accepted Seiya's help and stepped out of the casket.

The buzzing in Yaten's ears hadn't subsided. She held onto the edge of the casket for support once again, trying to seem nonchalant about it, but slightly more concerned that her head looked the same way that it felt – rather like someone had been using it as a bowling ball. Yaten swallowed, realizing that the buzzing noise was the blood rushing around inside her skull and she was only dimly aware of Seiya and Mako's voices around the unbearably heavy weight that was her head.

Somehow, miraculously, Seiya turned to help Mako over to Taiki and Yaten managed to make her slight stumble look like a clumsy turn as she went to stand beside Mina's – the final – casket. She paused there for a minute, bracing herself against the casket, shoulders slouched as she concentrated on nothing other than breathing steadily to make the pounding subside. She wasn't a sorceress by any stretch of the imagination- whoever had placed these spells obviously was – and it seemed to be a combination of luck and coincidence that her empathy was able to undo the sleep state that the senshi had been placed into.

_One more to go. Just one more, then I can rest and they can think about how we're going to get back home. _Yaten shook white hair out of her eyes and bent to unlock Mina's casket. _I guess that's assuming that we have a home to return to._

Carefully, and slowly so not to jostle her aching head, she unlocked the final casket. Once more, the glass became a thin, sparkling mist and disappeared into the air without a trace. Using the casket as an aid, Yaten stood up, stretching her palm out over the sleeping senshi, her free hand braced to support her. As before, she traced the magic keeping Mina asleep- more or less trying to stir the girl awake with her empathy. This time was far harder, and she had no doubt that it was due to her already drained power. The rushing of blood in her head returned, this time with a vengeance. Yaten was unaware of the pained expression that she wore, trying to concentrate on keeping everything together for long enough to get Minako's consciousness to respond. The rushing grew stronger, and Yaten pushed what little she had left into waking the last of Usagi's soldiers. At once the dizziness rushed in at her, it felt as though a dam had burst and the pain was flooding into her brain, she wasn't sure if she had opened her eyes or if she were still in the slight semi-trance. Vaguely, she noted that it was going to hurt an awful lot when she hit the floor- and though around the immense pain in her skull she felt herself falling, she never hit the floor. Instead, she felt strong arms catch her and a gentle voice mutter something that she couldn't quite discern before she gave up all pretense of remaining conscious and blacked out.

**oOo**

Seiya had been walking back from Taiki and the extremely confused senshi when she noticed Yaten. While the smallest light was certainly fair-skinned, her face now was drawn as she stood over Minako, eyes closed, her skin an all too close match to her hair. 

Almost as though in slow motion, she watched Yaten's grip on the casket loosen and her whole body relax as she began to fall. Seiya sprinted the remaining few steps and dropped to one knee, easily catching the other starlight before she could crack her head against the floor.

"Yaten, you idiot…" She muttered, any edge from earlier gone from her voice. Standing, she lifted the small starlight in her arms, observing with a slight smile how much more peaceful Yaten looked when she wasn't frowning, yelling, or making empty threats to cause Seiya bodily harm.

If anyone noticed the unusually soft expression on Fighter's face as she carried Yaten over to them, they wisely said nothing.

* * *

**END Chapter 6**

**Notes**: I suck at following my own outlines. This chapter is only half of its chapter outline, but it's already too long and I realize that it is also exceeeeedingly boring. I'm really sorry- honestly, I wanted to put lots of fluffy mushiness and action (not that kind of action, the fighting kind. :P ) in it, but we're not there yet. I really appreciate any comments or reviews that you have if you read this-!!


	7. Abstain

Notes: AAAAAH! This is the third time I've written this chapter. I'm not happy with it, but when am I ever? Either way, I apologize for the delay here, I have no intention on giving up on this fic- I just get easily sidetracked.

CHAPTER 7

----

ABSTAIN

General Tureis Ahadi was far from being in a good mood as he walked up the marble steps to the dais. This room had always seemed a little eerie with its cold minimalist décor, but with the absence of its usual occupant – his Queen – it seemed to take on an even less welcoming feel. Against the wall at the top of the stairs a plain ovular mirror hung, and it was in front of this that he stopped. He didn't _know_ where the Queen had gone, but it seemed a likely guess that while the senshi were struggling to unravel the illusion in which they were trapped, she would be busy making herself at home in their solar system.

He hesitated in front of his reflection – somewhat tired looking around the edges, but well groomed nonetheless. "Show me the senshi."

The mirror obeyed, obscuring his reflection until it became an image of the Kinmoku throne room. The memories that he had taken from the Starlights' leader had been quite sufficient enough to create a believable replica of their palace- though as the Queen had predicted, they had been too clever to last long in the illusion without detecting something amiss.

He had enjoyed the time spent there- as fake as the whole thing had been. The light Taiki had been excellent company; it really had been a shame that they found themselves on opposing sides of this conflict. Who knew what might have happened otherwise.

The image further resolved itself and he watched half-heartedly as the recently awoken girls fretted over the unconscious silver-haired starlight, still held protectively by the Starlights' leader. He looked on for a few more minutes as the last of the senshi- a rather pretty blonde girl – awoke. It seemed that the smallest starlight had been attempting to bring all of the senshi from their enchanted sleep, and had overexerted herself. He was fairly certain that the Queen had not anticipated that possibility- but he knew that she had made doubly sure that no one would be able to bring the moon princess from her deep sleep. In one of her moments of unbridled glee, she had explained some of the nuances of her plans and added that killing the senshi would be a messy business and, 'always seems to call other powers into play,' as she had put it. Killing them would bring around the possibility of their reincarnation and the bothersome business of searching them down again. At least in their enchanted sleep she knew where they were and that they were safely within her power.

General Adahi waved his hand over the mirror and the image faded back into his own reflection. He had trouble disliking the Starlights – particularly Taiki. Perhaps that was why he had wanted to help them in whatever little way he could, and he hoped that he hadn't sealed his own fate in giving them the key to unlocking the sleep spells placed upon the senshi. Watching his own tired face in the mirror, he sighed. There was no doubt that the Queen would know what he had done, the only real question was what she would do about it.

**oOo**

_Uuuuugh._ Yaten lifted her eyelids, too tired to even grumble about the pain in her skull as the images around her drifted into focus. Her surroundings took a few seconds to register as she took in the fact that she was uncomfortable and that the left side of her body was against something warm. She felt herself blush as she realized that her head was resting on someone's shoulder and a pair of vivid blue eyes were watching her with thinly veiled concern.

"Yaten? Are you alright?"

Unhelpfully, she felt her mind freeze up and knew that once again she had to be staring at Seiya with the most idiotically dumbstruck expression on her face. _I'm Healer right now, why are you calling me by my name? You never do that, you've never done that. You're not _supposed_ to do that._

"Of course I'm alright." She frowned and slipped out of the other starlight's arms, jarring her legs as they hit the floor.

"Right." Seiya arched a brow, clearly unconvinced.

"That was really brave of you to help us." Minako beamed, sidling up beside Yaten, and taking a hold of her arm. "Taiki explained what happened-"

It was only then that Yaten realized that all of the inners and Taiki were watching her in silence. As Minako led her by the arm past the now empty caskets, talking quietly, her mind began to wander. Yaten knew that Seiya and Taiki were still keeping an eye on her, afraid that she might faint again. That wasn't going to happen though. Sure, she felt exhausted and drained within an inch of unconsciousness and all she really wanted to do was lie down and sleep, but she wasn't about to pass out again unless it was of her own accord. At least she hoped she wouldn't. _Besides, who could sleep with someone babbling in their ear like this?_ Yaten chose to watch the architecture rather than look at Mina while she was talking. She wasn't sure why she still bothered; Mina never seemed to take a hint. Yaten could look as bored as Usagi in math class and Mina would plow ever onward in her one-sided conversation- it really didn't make any difference.

Makoto, Ami, and Rei began talking quietly with Taiki, it appeared as though Seiya was hanging back from their conversation – uncharacteristically quiet as they discussed matters in very serious and hushed tones. Quieting their voices didn't keep the whispers from reverberating off of the throne room's walls, creating a dull, entirely indiscernible buzz of conversation far louder than they intended.

A few more long minutes of Minako's talking passed, Yaten caught some of the things she was saying – something about waking Luna and Artemis who were sleeping in Usagi's casket, and something about escaping the illusion – but she couldn't bring herself to listen. Not when she had other things on her mind.

As they reached the far wall, Yaten lowered herself down to sit on the floor, resting her back against the wall and freeing her arm from Minako's predatory grip. More than anything she just wanted to sleep right now. Mina sighed and sat gracefully down beside Yaten, finally ceasing her seemingly-endless litany.

"Healer? Are you sure you're feeling alright?" Mina sat very ladylike, leaning curiously towards the starlight, her voice sounding honestly concerned.

"I'm fine." Yaten managed a weak smile, which seemed to satisfy the other girl for the time being. "Just tired."

Silver hair brushed the sides of her face and tickled the back of her neck as she sat, relaxing for the first time in what felt like days. She rested her elbows on her knees, hands hanging loosely in the still air, _I'd love to be home right now. _The memory of her huge bed with its fluffy black comforter was enough to bring on another round of sleepiness and she fought the urge to just close her eyes and pass out where she sat.

"Hey you two!" Yaten lifted her head to find Rei waving her arms from the other side of the room, "Quit flirting and come over here! We need help- and Fighter needs that key if you still have it." The last part was addressed to her, and she frowned, reluctantly rising to her feet. _Right, flirting. Sure._ She rolled her eyes and offered Mina a hand up, which the blonde girl accepted with a surprised giggle.

As they approached the others Minako spoke up, "So? How are we going to get out of here?" She looked from one worried face to another.

"Well…" Ami was the one to reply, her voice timid and quiet, "We should be able to leave in the same manner which we arrived."

"Teleport." Rei interjected, hands on her hips.

Ami nodded, "Yes, that's right. However, we're hardly as rested as we were when we did it last time- so there is a chance that it may not work." She and Taiki exchanged a look of concern.

"What about Usagi?" Mina asked, casting a worried glance in the direction of the first casket- still untouched, its glass cover fully intact.

"Fighter's going to carry her." Again, it was Rei who answered.

Taken by surprise, Yaten caught herself staring at Seiya, a sickly strange feeling of jealousy clawing at her insides. _Of course Seiya would volunteer for that, why am I surprised?_ She realized that Seiya was staring back at her.

"I'll need the key." She held out her hand to Healer, an impassive expression on her face.

Wordlessly, Yaten handed her the small key and watched as the dark haired light turned to unlock the casket. As before, the glass became a glittering mist and vanished into the air, leaving the sleeping moon princess free. On either side of her, Luna and Artemis lay still under the enchanted sleep.

Again, the feeling of jealousy worked its way through the smallest of the starlights. Her chest felt constricted as she watched Seiya looking down at the sleeping Usagi.

Interrupting the silence, Minako leaned forward and lifted Artemis from the casket, cradling the cat's white body against hers as she petted his head, whispering apologies in his ear. He couldn't hear her, but it seemed to make her feel better.

Yaten forced herself to look away from the serene expression on Seiya's face and reached into the casket, following Minako's example, to lift Luna up into her arms. The sleeping cat was awkward to hold, but at least it gave her something to do that might take her mind off of the uncomfortable and entirely unwelcome feelings of jealousy that she was having at the sight of Seiya with Usagi. Besides, Yaten did care for Luna- she had been one of the few people (or cats, as the case may be) that she felt remotely close to on Earth.

Yaten turned away from the casket with Luna, pretending to inspect the cat closely for any injuries, while really just trying not to look as Seiya bent forward, raven black ponytail falling over her shoulder, and lifted Usagi from the casket.

_Oh Luna, I would almost talk to you about this._ She smiled sadly down at the unconscious cat in her arms, _But you wouldn't really be able to help. I've somehow managed to get myself into a very stupid position, one that I never _ever_ thought I would be in._ Yaten paused, realizing that not only was she talking to herself in her head, but that she was considering discussing her problems with a cat, and sighed. _I want to go home._ _Things were so much easier before._

"We should stand in a circle-" Taiki finally spoke up, her voice seeming unnaturally loud after the long silence. "Fighter, Healer, and Minako- you should stand in the center."

Makoto took a step forward, looking from Ami to Taiki, "Is this really going to work? You didn't sound very sure about it..."

There was a pause, and Yaten watched out of the corner of her eye as Seiya carried Usagi, the long blonde ponytails falling just past the tops of Fighter's black vinyl boots.

"We don't have a choice." Ami said quietly in response. "It's our only way out."

Again, there was a moment of silence. Exhausted, drained, somewhat emotionally battered and confused, Yaten wanted the whole adventure to be over- she wanted her bed or at least rest, she wanted to not think anymore about dangerous enemies, the trickery of the illusion, and least of all the tall dark-haired starlight whose body had been so warm against hers and whose lips had-

_Dammit._

She frowned; irritated that she'd allowed her thoughts to wander back there again.

"Now, if we-" Taiki began, but was interrupted by an unexpected rushing of wind.

_Wind?_ _We're inside. _In unison, everyone turned toward the tall doors to the throne room, where there now stood three familiar figures.

The wind immediately died away, and Yaten felt the tension in the room increase monumentally as Tuxedo Mask stepped forward, eyes locked on Fighter. A few paces behind, Uranus and Neptune followed, flanking him on either side.

_There's an unlikely group of people._ _I'd never expect those two to work with him unless matters were absolutely desperate. _Yaten's heart sank, _Great._

She felt the tension crackle between Fighter and Tuxedo Mask as he wordlessly took Usagi from the leader of the starlights. In the back of her mind she wondered how much less awkward this confrontation would have been were Usagi awake for it.

_Still pretty awkward._

Fighter stood, rigid, her arms dropping uselessly to her sides. For a moment, Yaten almost felt sorry for her.

"I understand that you _finally_ figured out this illusion spell." Uranus spoke, her voice the usual deep tones of confidence with a biting undercurrent of distaste. Her gaze leveled on Fighter, who returned the blonde's stare unflinchingly.

_In some ways those two are too similar to ever get along. _The corners of her mouth twitched, Yaten forced herself to pay attention to the situation at hand, realizing where her train of thought was taking her again. She was far from comfortable with how often Seiya managed to wriggle her way into her thoughts lately.

"What's happened on Earth?" It was Makoto who spoke, stepping forward in urgency. "Is everything alright?"

Uranus's gaze moved away from Fighter to rest on Makoto, "No- we need your help."

**oOo**

There was nothing quite like a great crushing reality to make you feel like your problems were more than a little on the petty side of things. However, petty was one of the many names that Yaten had been called over the years – along with selfish, vain, materialistic, and cynical among others. They may have been some of her less admirable qualities, but they were still a part of her, and so it was that when Tuxedo Mask finally spoke to explain their current situation as he knew it- only half of Yaten's mind was focused on his words, while the other half watched in niggling irritation at the way Fighter's body language and emotions were shouting at her.

_She wants to fight for Usagi so badly. _Yaten was quiet as the group arranged themselves in circular formation once more. She, Minako, and the ever-frigid Tuxedo Mask stood in the center, holding their charges while the rest of the senshi clasped hands around them.

"_The planets fell quickly- by the time we became aware of the attacks Earth was the only planet that had not come under her power." Tuxedo Mask had explained, arms holding Usagi protectively as he spoke to the senshi around him. His gaze skipped over Fighter's as he continued, telling how it was all they could do to keep the rampant youma from causing all out panic in the city. Multiple attacks a day, they were clueless as to the identity of the real attacker aside from her gender._

_They needed information and they needed help- and they needed all of the senshi together to defend the Earth. As Tuxedo Mask had said, however unhappily, that included the Starlights as Earth was now their home too._

_So it seemed that the 'plan' was to return to Earth and fend off the youma for as long as it took to find their real attacker and defeat her. Obviously Usagi's unconscious state had not been factored into this plan. No one had wanted to voice that part out loud. How could they stand a chance against this unknown enemy without Sailor Moon and the Silver Crystal?_

Yaten stared down at the black cat in her arms, noticing how Luna's fur against the vinyl of her uniform had created more than a little static electricity resulting in Luna's fur looking at least twice as fluffy as usual. _On the bright side, at least Earth is still there._ She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and lifted green eyes to the senshi surrounding her. Neptune had ended up standing between Uranus and Fighter in the circle- something which the blonde senshi looked less than thrilled about.

Utter quiet settled over the group as they concentrated. As before, Fighter, Maker, and Healer were not lending much to this Sailor Teleport other than their strength- which in Yaten's current state wasn't a whole lot. Taiki's head was tilted back, eyes fixed on a point somewhere high on the far wall if she was looking at anything at all. The edges of the room began to grow fuzzy and, remembering the nauseating spinning that had followed last time, Yaten closed her eyes, held onto Luna, and hoped for the best.

**oOo**

All around her the world righted itself- light trails burnt into pale green eyes. There was too much to make sense of at once; the spinning, the lights, the forms of the other senshi all around, and most of all the _cold._ The frigid winter air hit her like a ton of bricks, pulling the breath from her lungs and numbing her skin. She staggered as the spinning finally ceased and her center of gravity made an attempt to right itself. Clinging to Luna for warmth, she glimpsed the other senshi blinking the lights from their eyes.

Before she could properly comprehend that they had safely returned to Earth, a warning tingle ran down her spine, _Something's wrong._

She turned to look behind her and registered a voice urgently screaming her name as her whole world was washed out in a blindingly bright light, sweeping her into unconsciousness.

* * *

**End Chapter 7**

Notes: Poor Yaten, she thought she was going to stay conscious. Oops! I'm sorry to leave it off here, this whole chapter was supposed to be part of six, and the next chapter should really be seven. I will try to have the next chapter out much sooner since I'm actually looking forward to writing it- as opposed to this one which was filled with nothing much happening! I'm also posting this in the hopes that FlyingToeShoes over there will write a full length story. Hey, I can dream! As always, reviews are reaaaaally appreciated- I need to be poked to get things done sometimes! Much love to anyone who is actually still reading this...!


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